
Qass. 
Book. 



I A 



.( 



lii" 



"T^ 



STUDIES IN HISTORY 

ECONOMICS AND 

PUBLIC LAW 



EDITED BY 

THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 

OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



VOLUME NINETY-FIVE 



lS!tw Bork 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., AGENTS 
London: P. S. King & Son, Ltd. 

1920-1921 



CONTENTS 

PAGB 

1. Railroad Capitalization — -James C. Bonbright^ Ph.D. . i 

2. American Apprenticeship and Industrial Education — 

Paul H. Douglas, Ph.D 207 



STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW 

EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 
OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

Volume XCV] [Number 2 

Whole Number 216 



AMERICAN APPRENTICESHIP AND 
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



BY 

PAUL H. DOUGLAS, Ph.D. 

Assistant Professor of Labor Administration 
The University of Chicago 




53'etD ijork 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., AGENTS 

London : P. S. King & Son, Ltd. 
1921 



'*^^^^«t ^^ '^*^- 



p^% 



Columbia ISmti^rBtty 

FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 



Nicholas Murray Butler, LL.D., President. Munroe Smith, LL.D., Professoj 
of Roman Law. E. R. A. Seligman, LL.D., Professor of Political Economy. J. B. 
Sflloore, LL.D., Professor of International Law. W. A. Dunning, LL.D., Professor of 
History. F. H. Giddings, LL.D., Professor of Sociology. J. B. Clark, LL. D. , Professor 
of Political Economy. H. R. Seager, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy. H. L. 
Moore, Ph. D., Professor of Political Economy. F. J. E. Woodbridge, LL.D., Dean. 
W. R. Shepherd, Ph.D., Professor of History. J. T. Shotwell, Ph.D., Professor oi 
History. V. G. Simkhovitch, Ph.D., Professor of Economic History. H. Johnson, 
A. M., Professor of History. S. McC. Lindsay, LL.D., Professor of Social Legislation. 
W. D. Guthrie, A.M., Professor of Constitutional Law. C. J. H. Hayes, Ph.D., Pro- 
fessor of History. A. A. Tenney, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology. R. L. 
Schuyler, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History. R. E. Chaddock, Ph.D., Associate 
Professor of Statistics. D. S. Muzzey, Ph.D., Professor of History. T. R. Powell, 
Ph.D., Professor of Constitutional Law. H L. McBain, Ph.D., Professor of Municipal 
Science. B. B. Kendrick, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History. C- D. Hazen, Ph.D., 
Professor of History. W. F. Ogburn, Ph. D , Professor of Sociology. Dixon R. Fox, 
Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History. W. W. Rockwell, Ph.D., Associate Professor 
of Church History in Union Theological Seminary. F. J. Foakes Jackson, D. D., 
Professor of Christian Institutions in Union Theological Seminary. 



SCHEME OF INSTRUCTION 

Courses are ofifered under the following departments: (i) History, (2) Public Law 
and Comparative Jurisprudence, (3) Economics, (4) Social Science. 

The Faculty does not aim to offer courses that cover comprehensively all of the sub- 
jects that are included within the fields of its interests. 

GENERAL COURSES 

General courses involve on the part of the student work outside of the classroom ; 
but no such course involves extensive investigation to be presented in essay or other form . 

History, twenty-one general courses. Public Law and Comparative Jurisprudence, 
twelve general courses. Economics, thirteen general courses. Social Science, seven 
general courses. 

RESEARCH COURSES 

Research courses vary widely in method and content; but every such course involves 
on the part of the student extensive work outside the classroom. 

History, thirteen research courses. Public Law and Comparative Jurisprudence, 
eight research courses. Economics, ten research courses. Social Science, ten research 
courses. 



The degrees of A.M. and Ph.D. are given to students who fulfill the requirements pre- 
scribed. (For particulars, see Columbia University Bulletins of Information, Faculty of 
Political Science.) Any person not a candidate for a degree may attend any of the courses 
at any time by payment of a proportional fee. Ten or more Cutting fellowships of |;iooo 
each or more, four University fellowships of $650 each, two or three GiJder fellow- 
ships of I650 — |8oo each, the Schiff fellowship of |6oo, the Curtis fellowship of $600, 
the Garth fellowship of $650 and a number of University scholarships of $150 each are 
awarded to applicants who give evidence of special fitness to pursue advanced studies. 
Several prizes of from S50 to 5250 are awarded. The library contains over 700,000 
volumes and students have access to other great collections in the city. 






2 

AMERICAN APPKENTlCESfllP AND 
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW 

EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 
OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

Volume XCV] [Number 2 

Whole Number 216 



AMERICAN APPRENTICESHIP AND 
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



BY 

PAUL H. DOUGLAS, Ph.D. 

Assistant Professor of Labor Administration 
The University of Chicago 




COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., AGENTS 

London: P. S. King & Son, Ltd. 

192I 



.It 



Copyright, 1921 

BY 

PAUL H. DOUGLAS 



" , < 



DOROTHY W. DOUGLAS 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

PART I 

American Apprenticeship : Its Background, Develop- 
ment AND Decay 

CHAPTER I 
Apprenticeship and its Relation to Industrial Education ii 

CHAPTER II 

American Apprenticeship Prior to the Factory Period 25 

CHAPTER III 
The Decline of Apprenticeship in the Machine Era 53 

PART II 

Juvenile Labor and the Educatignal'^JRequirements of 

Modern Industry 

CHAPTER IV 
Present Conditions of Children in Industry 85 

CHAPTER V 
What Education is Needed for Modern Industry 109 

2i3l 7 



8 TABLE OF CONTENTS [214 

PAGE 

CHAPTER VI 
The Problem of Vocational Education for Women 132 



PART III 

Modern Substitutes for Apprenticeship 

CHAPTER VII 
Manual Training 176 

CHAPTER VIII 
Trade and Industrial Schools 187 

CHAPTER IX 
Training of Employees by Plants 211 

CHAPTER X 
Evening and Correspondence Schools 229 

CHAPTER XI 
Cooperative and Continuation Schools 244 

CHAPTER XII 
Vocational Guidance 260 

PART IV 
Social Aspects 

CHAPTER XIH 
The Smith-Hughes Act and Federal Aid for Vocational Education. 293 



CHAPTER XIV 
The Economic Aspects of Industrial Education 



Z^l 



215] TABLE OF CONTENTS g 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XV 
The Attitude of Labor and Capital Towards Industrial Education . 315 

CHAPTER XVI 
A Program 331 



Bibliographical Note 340 



CHAPTER I ' 

Apprenticeship and its Relation to Industrial 

Education ^ 

Perhaps the most important educational movemeiit of 
the past decade has been that of industrial education. The 
cause lies in the failure of the workshop to provide proper 
industrial training fo-r its young employees. In order to 
understand -the present educational situation, therefore, it 
is imperative to examine the roots from which is has grown, 
namely, the old system of apprenticeship that formerly pro- 
vided broad training for the young workers of this country. 
The problem is not alone educational, but is economic as well 
and can only be understood by studying it from both aspects. 

I. Definition. Apprenticeship is essentially a combina- 
tion of education and industry. It is a process of learning 
by doing, under which a minor is taught the art of a trade 
by one who is at the moment engaged in it ; the minor pay- 
ing either in whole or in part for this instruction by the work 
done on objects destined for the master's consumption or 
sale. 

This is a sufficient definition of an institution that was the 
chief means of trade education until the advent of the 
^m)achine era. The apprentice differs from the ordinary child 
laborer in that he not only works for his master but receives 
instruction in his trade. Apprenticeship ceases when child 
labor degenerates from education to routine. Since now 
the shop no longer trains the child worker, other agencies 
must be created tO' assume the responsibility. 

Apprenticeship can exist, either with or without a legal in- 

1 This chapter originally appeared in the Pedagogical Seminary for 
March, 1918. 

217] II 



12 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [218 

denture. In its essence it is a contractual relationship be- 
tween boy and master, involving an exchange of work for 
education. The indenture is merely the legal instrument 
bearing witness to this relationship. The contract itself 
may be held binding in the absence of any written agreement 
whatsoever. For instance, a Connecticut court has held that 
a boy who lived to the age of twenty-one with a mechanic, 
learning the trade under parole agreement, was an apprentice 
though there were no articles of indenture existing between 
the two.^ Other decisions have been made supporting this 
view.^ In fact, many of the firms that now have appren- 
ticeship systems do not have formal written indentures bind- 
ing the two parties, but allow a continuance of the relation 
ui>on the pleasure of both. It goes without saying, how- 
ever, that though the indenture is not synonymous with ap- 
prenticeship, it is very valuable as a means of giving needed 
fixity and deiiniteness to a relation that might otherwise be- 
come too lax. 

2. Origm and extent. Apprenticeship originated far 
earlier than is commonly supposed. The popular belief is 
that it had its inception in the handicrafts of the medieval 
European town, crystallising in the regulations of the craft 
gilds. No writer upon economic history^, in fact, has placed 
its beginnings further back than this period. Adam Smith 
declared : '' Apprenticeships were altogether unknown to the 
ancients. I know of no Latin or Greek word (I might ven- 
ture, I believe, to assert that there is none) which expresses 

^Huntington v. Oxford, 4 Day, 189 (1810). 

' State V. Jones, 16 Fla. 306. See Niles Register, vol. lix, p. 336 (1840), 
where record is made of a similar decision by which a boy was sent 
back to his master, though no written agreement existed. See also H. G. 
Wood, A Treatise on the Law of Master and Servant, p. 52: "When 
the parties to a contract are bound thereby, one to teach and the other 
to learn and serve at a certain trade or business, it is a quasi contract 
of apprenticeship, whether in writing or by parole." 



219] APPRENTICESHIP 13 

the idea we annex to the word, Apprentice." ^ This state- 
ment by Smith has been freely accepted by writers upon 
economic history and industrial education. The Encyclo- 
pedia Britannica says : '* So far as it can l)e seen, it (appren- 
ticeship) arose in the middle ages, and fommed an integral 
part of the system of trade gilds and corporations." ^ Re- 
cent works upon the subject contain similar statements. 
One declares that " the modern apprenticeship system has 
its origin in the anedieval handicraft work ; * another that 
'' the apprenticeship system took its rise in medieval handi- 
craft work." * Many similar citations could be given.^ 

As a matter of fact the history of apprenticeship does not 
stop here. Traces oif it are found in the very dawn of 
civilization. The Babylonian Code of Hamimurabi (2100 
B. C.) recognizes and regulates apprenticeship in the follow- 
ing terms : " If an artisan take a son for adoption and teach 
him his handicraft, one may not bring claim against him. 
If he do not teach his handicraft, that adopted son may 
return to his father's house." ^ Aside from^ proving once 
more that there is nothing new under the sun, this voice 
from the past is significant in several respects. In the first 
place, the fact of codification proves that apprenticeship 
was even then in an advanced state oi development and had 
probably already existed for a considerable period of time. 
Secondly, it appears that the status of master and apprentice 
was that of father and son, a blood fiction being created. 
The term of apprenticeship, furthermore, lasted apparently 

^ Smith, The Wealth of Nations (Cantian edit.), vol. i, p. 124. 

* 1910 edition, vol. ii, p. 229. 

'J. L. Taylor, A Handbook of Vocational Education, pp. 138-139. 

*' Bulletin iq, U. S. Bureau of Education, 1913. 

^ x\mong these may be cited, Labatt's Master and Servant, vol. vi, 
p. 6384. 

^ The Code of Hammurahai (Harper trans,), p. 74, rules 188-189. 



14 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [220 

for life. The apprenitice leaves his father's house to go to 
that of the master; if the master teaches him, he stays. 
Finally, there is indication of state supervision over the re- 
lations of master and apprentice, since the master is re- 
quired to teach the apprentice his trade without the right to 
exploit him as boy labor. 

Among the Greeks, the existence of apprenticeship is 
wiitnessed to by references of several writers. Plato plainly 
refers to it in *'the Republic."^ Xenophon says it is 
" Just as necessary as w^hen a man puts his son out to ap- 
prenticeship to be trained that a contract should be made 
concerning what the son should know." ^ Thus, the ex- 
istence of apprenticeship is not only established, but there is 
evidence that it was regulated by agreements between the 
master and the father of the apprentice. Modem classical 
scholars have indeed accepted apprenticeship as an essential 
factor in the economic Hfe of Athens.^ 

Apprenticeship was furthermore present imder the Roman 
Empire. Lucian mentions that he was apprenticed to his 
uncle to learn sculpturing, but that he broke his contract and 
ran away.* Professor Westermann has recently translated 
several indentures that give an idea of the conditions of 
apprenticeship in Roman Egypt. ^ According to these con- 

^ Plato, The Republic, bk. iv, Spens. translates, " His sons and those 
others whom he instructs"; Jowett translates, "His sons and appren- 
tices." Jowett, Dialogues of Plato, vol. iii, p. 109. The word trans- 
lated is demiourgos. 

' Xenophon, De Re Equesfri, 2.2. 

'See for example Zimmern, The Greek Commonwealth, especially 
the chapter on "City Economics: Craftsmen and Workmen," pp. 255- 
276; also L. F. Anderson, "Some Facts Regarding Vocational Train- 
ing Among the Ancient Greeks and Romans," School Review, vol. xx. 
pp. 191-201. 

* Lucian, The Dream, Dakyn's trans. 

*W. L. Westermann, Classical Philology vol. xi (1914), pp. 295-315; 
also an article by the same author, " Vocational Training in Antiquity " 
in the School Review, vol. xxii, pp. 601-610. 



221 ] APPRENTICESHIP 15 

tracts, the artisan gave trade instruction, plus other con- 
siderations, to the apprentice in return for the apprentice's 
labor. 

Some of the masters practised the trades of weaving, 
shorthand writing, flute-playing, hairdressing. and nail- 
smithing. The time of service for these trades varied greatly. 
In the weaving trade, the indentures provided for a term of 
from one to five years, w^ith indications that a three-year 
period was the one most commonly required. A boy ap- 
prenticed to a flute player had to pay a money subsidy to 
the master, probably because his labor would be worthless. 
In weaving, on the other hand, it was the master who paid 
the apprentice. A compensation foir clothing was allowed, 
and money wages were paid to the guardian or parent not 
only during a part of the third year of service but also 
for such period thereafter as the apprentice might serve. 
The w^ages were progressively graduated according to the 
length of the contract. The apprentice, furthermore, does 
not appear to have lived with the master, but to have boarded 
at home; in return for which the master made an additional 
money allowance to the parent of the boy. 

It is apparent that there was no fixed term of service or 
ra)te of wages, these matters being settled by individual con- 
tract. The state's interest was confined to levying taxes 
upon apprentices and to inflicting fines in cases of broken 
contracts. All the apprenticeship regulations, moreover, 
were confined to the provisions of the common law. None 
of the codes made specific inclusion of themi.^ It is un- 
doubtedly this absence from formal Roman law that has 
led jurists and economic historians to deny the very ex- 
istence of the apprenticeship insltitution. 

* Professor Westermann states that the codes of Justinian and Theo- 
dosius seem to indicate a continuation of the apprenticeship system 
with governmental regulation for the purposes of taxation together with 
greater rigidity in the hereditary principle of choosing a trade. 



y 



l6 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [222 

But not only is the institution of apprenticeship much 
older than is commonly imagined it was also more uni- 
versal. It was as much a part of the far eastern system of 
handicraft as it was of western Europe. Mr. Coomaras- 
wamy's translatioin of an ancient Sinhalese potter's song 
describing in poetic language the operations which appren- 
tices were to perform, reveals apprenticeship as firmly 
embedded in Indian handicraft/ while students of Chinese 
industry have pointed out the parallelism between oriental 
apprenticeship and that of medieval Europe together with 
the similar functions of gilds as regnlatoiy and supervisory 
bodies.^ 

That apprenticeship is of ancient origin and almost uni- 
versal extent should not, however, excite much surprise, 
for it is obviously the normal correlative of handicraft 
labor. Whenever industry has developed beyond the family 
as a self-sufficing entity, separate trades arise from which 
the artisan must derive the whole or a part of his living. 
The growth of the industr>^ must in many cases entail more 
work than can be done by the sons alone. Other boys 
must be taught the trade, not only to insure enough skilled 
workmen, but also in some cases to provide continuity in its 
management. The inevitable result is apprenticeship. 

3. Applies to professions as zvell as trades. The system 
of apprenticeships has been used to prepare men for all 
forms of industrial and professional work, not for the 
manual crafts alone.' It cannot be repeated too often 

^ Spolai Zcylanica (see especially vol. iv, pts. xiv and xv) translated 
by A. K. Coomaraswamy 1906. For an interesting description of Indian 
industry and the plan of apprenticeship see Mr. Coomaraswamy's 
Medieval Sinalese Art. 

* See among others H. B. Morse, The Gilds of China, 1908. 

* Among the Greeks there was no distinction between v\'hat we now 
designate as trades, crafts, arts, and professions. All alike were given 
the same name : Techne. 



223] APPRENTICESHIP ij 

that apprenticeship is basically a process of learning by- 
doing/ It is a higher form of the trial-and-error process, 
containing a large amount of imitative motion. As such, 
it quite naturally antedates all theoretical instruction. 

The avenue of entrance to all professions formerly lay 
through apprenticeship. Until recent years lawyers were 
almost predominantly trained in law offices by practising 
attorneys.^ Even to-day, despite the multiplicity of law 
schools, many attorneys are educated by this purely *' pren- 
tice-like" practise.^ Dentists and doctors have in the 
past been trained by similar methods. Indeed, as Mr. 
Flexner points out, English medical schools are but an oitt- 
growth of the pooling of apprentices whom individual 
doctors have taken with them in their rounds through tlie 
hospitals.* 

As medieval universities were controlled either by gilds 
of students or by gilds of teachers, graduation from the 
student ranks meant at first only entrance into the rank of 
teacher. Just as the medieval silversmiths, coopers, and 
other craftsmen were compelled to produce a ^' master- 
piece " as evidence that they had successfully completed 
their appreticeship and were qualified to become full-fledged 
journeymen, so too was the student compelled to procure 
his original piece of work for graduation. The disserta- 
tion of the modern doctor of philosophy is but a vestigial 
remain of this custom. 

*The educational nature of apprenticeship is seen from the French 
and German equivalents of the term. The French word is apprcii- 
tissage ; the German, lehrzeit, springing respectively from the stems, 
apprendre and lehrett, to learn and to teach. 

'See Redlich, The Case Method in American Law Schools (Carnegie 
Foundation), p. 7. 

^Ibid., p. 7. 

*The Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 1915, p. 528. 



l8 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [224 

Chivalry itself was but a species of handicraft. A boy 
having served seven years as page and seven years as squire 
was then admitted with attendant ceremony to the rank of 
knight. These steps were perfectly analogous to the stages 
of apprentice, journeyman, and master craftsman, through 
which the artisan passed. 

In recent times pedagogy has also been taught by the 
method of apprenticeship. In 1846 the pupil-teacher system 
was introduced into the London schools to succeed the 
Lancastrian or monitorial system. Boys and girls were 
apprenticed to the head teacher, assisted him in his work, 
received instruction ( which was generally given at the break- 
fast hour), and were paid a small but increasing wage for 
their labor. This practice was plainly nothing but appren- 
ticeship. The teacher-apprentices were supposed to be no 
less than thirteen years of age ; in many case they were still 
younger. The London County Council, in 1875, wishing to 
reform the situation, stipulated that no pupil-teachers would 
be accepted who were less than fourteen. In 1869 there 
were two apprentices for every teacher. This indicates 
that the teaching profession was not only poorly manned, 
but that apprentices could not be sure of final opportunity 
to sen^e as full-fledged teachers. Even in London to-day 
the art^of teaching is imparted in this fashion. The rela- 
tive number of apprentices has, however, decreased. In 
1904 the ratio was one apprentice to every four masters, 
Avhile the instruction formerly given by individual masters; 
is instead given in normal schools.^ 

Though apprenticeship has been the generic form of 
education for all these professions, the old imitative, em- 
pirical method of education has been largely or wholly re- 
placed by school training. Whenever a trade, craft, or pro- 
fession has de^^eloped to such a stage that general principles 

^ Final report, London School Board, 1870-1904, pp. 138-146. 



225] APPRENTICESHIP 19 

and scientific causation can be abstracted from personal con- 
tact, then apprenticeship as the sole or chief method of 
training for that occupation declines. That which was an 
art becomes a science with more or less fixed rules and a 
generalized method of procedure. In our day, we have 
seen schools of finance and administration invade the art 
of business management, promising to revolutionize the 
functions of the entrepreneur and make business a science. 

Will this movement from the system of apprenticeship to 
school training, which has been so characteristic of the pro- 
fessions, take place iti the manual arts as well ? Will brick- 
laying and carpentry be taught in the schools in the future 
as medicine and law are now, rather than on the job? This 
question is indeed. an openi one, but as we shall see it is ex- 
tremely doubtful if the school can ever replace the shop as 
the chief miethod of training manual workers. Even in the 
professions abstract instruction alone has been found inade- 
quate ; young lawyers must become clerks in offices ; doctors 
must serve as internes in hospitals. In industrial pursuits 
the case for shop training appears even stronger. The 
content of the various trades cannot easily be given else- 
where than in the industry itself. 

4. Apprenticeship a preparation for life as well as for in- 
dustry. Another function of apprenticeship is the develop- 
ment of character and good citizenship. Originally it was 
a preparation for life, not a preparation for technical pur- 
suits alone. ^ The English gilds formerly acted as the moral 
and educational supervisors of the apprentice — among other 
things, in some cases requiring church attendance, — and this 

* See R. A. Bray's view of the essence of apprenticeshhip — " Origin- 
ally the term apprenticeship was employed to signify not merely the 
practical training in the mysteries of a trade, but also that wider train- 
ing of character and intelligence on which depends the real efficiency 
of the craftsman." Boy Labour and Apprenticeship, p. i. 



20 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [226 

theory of the social nature of apprenticeship existed long 
after the gild foitn of organization decayed. Peel's child 
labor law of 1802 was entitled, '' An act for the preserva- 
tion o'f the health atid morals of the Apprentices and others 
employed in cotton and other mills and cotton and other 
factories." ^ This law stipulated that educational training 
should be given every day with religious instruction " one 
hour every Sunday." 

The apprenticeship regulations of the colonies furnish 
ample proof that this conception of apprenticeship held in 
America as well as in England. The statutes of many of 
the colonies provided that the apprentice should be taught 
to read and write, should be given biblical instruction 
(Massachusetts compelling church attendance), and that the 
master must be a moral nrnn. Should the master violate 
any of these provisions, the apprentice was to be freed from 
his contract. The system was designed, in so far as the iso- 
lated life of the times permitted, to prepare the apprentice 
for society, as well as for his trade. Nor should it be for- 
gotten that the state assumed supervision over the apprentice 
until he reached the age of twenty-one, in some cases, twenty- 
four. At the present time the states, with few exceptions, 
disclaim any responsibility for the child over fourteen. In 
ooir far more complex life with its many dangers to adoles- 
ence, we are turning children loose from; seven to ten years 
earher than in colonial times. 

5. A transition stage between servitude and freedom. 
Apprenticeship has frequently resulted in a semi-servile 
status which contrasts curiously with its protective features. 
The relation of the apprentice is at best a dependent one. 
and in primitive states of society it may readily take on some 
of the aspects of slavery. Among many of the Southern 

'42 Geo. Ill, c. 87. 



227] APPRENTICESHIP 21 

colonies, notably; Virginia and South Carolina, the same 
laws were made applicable to negro slaves and to white ap- 
prentices/ A study of the methods by which the various 
states manumitted the slaves within their jurisdiction, shows 
that apprenticeship was a half-way stage between slavery 
and complete freedom. In the slow social evolution w^iich 
the Pennsylvania negro experienced, he passed through the 
stage of apprenticeship on his way to freedom. The aboli- 
tion act of 1780 commuted slavery to a term of apprentice- 
ship under the old masters of the former slaves." New 
Jersey and Illinois followed a similar plan.^ 

A parallel proposal was made by the Prussian landowners 
when the '' hereditary subjection " was about to be removed. 
Cuba, in freeing her slaves, pursued an identical policy.* 
When England freed her slaves in 183 1, the colonial govern- 
ment re-committed the freedmen in the West Indies to a 
term of apprenticeship, owners being metamorphosed into 
masters. The evils that followed the creation of this new 
status w^ere every whit as bad as those of the previous era. 
Men and women were flogged to death, and the barbarous 
cruelties that were practised show that slave discipline was 
as active and as powerful under apprenticeship as under 
slavery.^ 

^ See Henning, Virginia Statutes, vol. iii, pp. 446-47, "An Act Con- 
cerning Servants and Slaves." 

* See E. R. Turner, The Negro in Pennsylvania, pp. 89-108. 

* The New Jersey act of 1846 simply substituted apprenticeship for 
slavery. See H. S. Cooley, A Study of Slavery in New Jersey, pp. 
28-31. The census of 1850 enumerates several hundred New Jersey 
blacks who were legally " apprentices." For the process in Illinois 
see N. D. Harris, The History of Negro Servitude in Illinois, pp. 6-10.3. 

* H. H. S. Aimes, " Transition from Slave to Free Labor in Cuba," 
Yale Review, vol. xv, pp. 68-84. 

^William Bevan, Operation of the Apprenticeship System of the 
British Colonies (published in 1837). pp. 35, ff, gives a striking account 
of the system. 



22 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [228 

It is very interesting to note that Abraham Lincoln, dur- 
ing his first term in Congress, introduced a bill for the free- 
ing of the slaves in the District of Columbia, that provided 
a temporary system of apprenticeship for them/ It was 
indeed the enactment of apprenticeship codes by some of the 
southern states after the Civil War' (codes which provided 
for a more or less permanent semi-servile status of the 
newly-freed negro) that was the immiediate cause of the 
harsh measures of reprisal undertaken by the North upon 
the South. The leaders of the radical northern movement 
charged that slavery was being set up again in the South 
under a different guise.' Whether many of these nominal 
" apprentices " received the training necessary to continue 
bona-fide apprenticeship is, of course, extremely doubtful. 
The legal fiction of apprenticeship was however maintained. 

The reasons for this curious use of apprenticeship are 
simple. It is dangerous for the slave to be suddenly trans- 
posed from slavery to freedom. The f reedmian is disposed 
to idle away his time. This means the disorganization of 
the working force of the former master. The former 
owners moreover feel that they are entitled to compensa- 
tion. If money is denied them, they claim further service 
from their former slaves. 

6. Legal Theories. The legal theories of apprenticeship 
have naturally changed with the successive forms of its con- 
stitution. In Babylon, as we saw, the relation of master 
and apprentice was that of father and son — apparently a rela- 
tion of pennanence. All the potential harshness of the 

*Strunsky, Abraham Lincoln, p. 68. 

'Notably Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. For a southern ac- 
count, showing the alleged necessity for a more permanent labor force, 
see Hilary A. Herbert's Why the Solid South f 

*See, for instance, James G. Blaine's Twenty Years in Congress, vol. 
ii, pp. 94-103. 



229] APPRENTICESHIP 23 

patria potestas (to use an anachronism) accompanied this 
relationship. By the time of Roman Egypt, apprenticeship 
had developed into a contractual state of fixed stipulations 
under which the apprentice received a money reward as well 
as instructioii. He became, in a word, a wage-earner. 
This change of status weakened the concept O'f filiality. In 
the Middle Ages apprenticeship became a matter for corpor- 
ate control upon the part of the gilds. The master had now 
become the temporary guardian, not the parent, of the ap- 
prentice. But though the apprentice is not the property of 
the master, his term of service is. The unexpired serving 
time of the apprentice is often an economic asset of the 
master and could, under certain conditions, be sold or 
bequeathed. This constitutes property in time if not in 
persons. 

With the coming of the machine era, the length of the 
period of service was shortened. Industry did not now re- 
quire protracted service on the part of any individual. 
Master and apprentice now stand more in the capacity of 
friends who can terminate their relation at pleasure. Two 
main tendencies appear in this development : ( i ) The move- 
ment iromw a personal to an impersonal basis. (2) the 
decrease in length of service, beginning with a lifetime and 
ending in some cases with but a few months. 

7. Universality of problem. The problems presented by 
the decadence of apprenticeship are not peculiar to America 
alone. Great Britain has seen child labor robbed of its 
former educative qualities, and become largely routine 
drudgery. France, after abolishing the gilds in 1791, felt 
the need of skilled training, and some of the best analytical 
studies of modern industry have resulted from her know- 
ledge of that need.^ Germany as we all know, met the 

^Some of the more important recent studies are: Charles Berteaux, 
La Crise de I'Apprentissage en France (igog) ; Gustav Dron, Pro- 



24 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [230 

problem better than, any other nation. She accomplished 
this through her perpetuation of the gilds as the supervisors 
of trade education and through her system of compulsory 
attendance in continuation schools. Italy and Switzerland 
have experienced the same difficulty. Industrially back- 
ward countries, such as Austria/ and countries newly in- 
ducted into the machine process, like Japan, face parallel 
situations. 

Wherever the old hand process has given way to 
machinery, where\^er the division of labor has been greatly 
extended, there the old system of apprenticeship has broken 
down. With it the training of the boy in industry, both 
for the industry and for life itself, becomes more and more 
difficult. The problem of the future is to devise a system 
which will modernize the good features of the former 
system and add to them merits which it did not formerly 
possess. 

position de lot sur I' organization de I'apprentissage, par les cours pro- 
fessionel (1911) ; Constant Verlot, Rapport fait au noni de la commission 
du commerce, et de Vindustric sur le projet et les propositions de lois 
relatif a I'enseignement technique industriel et commercial (1912). 
Also two governmental studies, Rapport de I'apprentissage dans I'indus- 
trie de I'horlogerie and UApprentissage industriel. 

* See August Letwehr, " Die Lehrlingsf rage in der Grossindustrie,'" 
Oestcrreichische Rundschau, vol. xxxvi, pp. 199-201 (1913). 



CHAPTER II 

American Apprenticeship Prior to the Factory Period 

The colonial system of apprenticeship was not indigenous 
to American soil. Most of the colonists were Englishmen 
who brought to America the ideas and the institutions of 
their mother country. To understand American appren- 
ticeship, we must, therefore, understand English apprentice- 
ship, and note the similarities and differences between the 
two. 

/. The English Background. 

The celebrated Statute of Artificers in 1562^ which is 
often regarded as the real starting-point of English appren- 
ticeship, was merely the codification of the customary 
guild regulations and previous enactments.' What had 
hitherto been a local affair regulated by the craft guilds" 
now became a national matter regulated by the central 
government according to uniform rules. Legislation con- 
cerning apprenticeship and craft regulation had been 
enacted for many decades before Elizabeth. It is to the 
credit of Elizabeth and her cotmsellors to have made of 
these scattered enactments a well-rounded system. 

»5 Eliz. C-4. 

'For a good discussion of the purport and purpose of the statute, 
see Dunlop and Denman, English Apprenticeship and Child Labor, 
chap, iii, pp. 60-71, 

'For a suggestive description of apprenticeship as a form of edu- 
cation under the guilds see L. S. Lyon, " Medieval English Apprentice- 
ship as Business Education," School Reiiew, vol. xxvii, Oct., 1920, 
pp. 585-99. 

231] 25 



26 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [232 

The Statute was modelled chiefly upon the regulations 
of the London guilds. It bound the apprentice formally 
Avith a written indenture that was to be kept on record ; it 
fixed his term at seven years (with the important provision 
that, if he bound himself before he was 17, his term in any 
case should not expire until he was 24) , and it granted the 
right to take apprentices to householderes only. It is also 
interesting to note that it prohibited sons of countrymen 
from entering most of the trades, reserving this profitable 
field for the townsmen. 

The Statute of Artificers was also designed as a system 
of poor relief.^ It gave justices of the peace and officers of 
towns the power to bind out any unemployed person under 
twenty-one as an apprentice to a trade " or to a husbandry, 
provided that in the latter case the farmer to whom he was 
bound owned a minimum of half a ploughland in tillage. 
The technical value of these two forms of apprenticeship 
was of course very unequal. The craftsman was taught 
his trade, the husbandman merely worked for his master. 
By the poor law of 1601 ^ justices of the peace were given 
power to apprentice not only the children of paupers and 
vagrants but also the children of large families who it was 
thought would in the future become a burden to the state. 
Apprenticeship as a measure of poor relief had thus reached 
its widest possible scope. 

* For a contemporary view of the state of England see John Hales. 
Discourse concerning the Commonwealth of this Realm (edited by- 
Miss Lamond, written in 1549. Pub. under initials W. S. in 1581.) 

*See Scott, J. F., Historical Essays in Apprenticeship and Vocational 
Education, pp. 7-26, showing that apprenticeship was not the sole means 
of entering a trade, but that the rank of journeyman could be also ob- 
tained by patrimony and by purchase. 

* 43 Eliz. C. 2. 



233] APPRENTICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 27 

2. Colonial Need for Cheap Labor. 

In the early days of the colonies their need for an adequate 
labor supply was very great. New land was being opened up, 
and there was a large demand for colonial products, espec- 
ially tobacco. The agricultural system of Virginia was based 
on the plantation, which, unlike the New England farm, could 
not be worked by the family of the owner. K dependent 
class of laborers was therefore its necessary' accompani- 
ment. Later the manorial system of Maryland, and the 
large landed estates of New York demanded a similar class 
of labor. 

England, on the other hand, had a surplus population. 
The development of the woolen industry and the sheep en- 
closures had dispossessed thousands of their former hold- 
ings.^ Pauperism was on the increase, and the burden of 
poor support was becoming irksome to the parishes. 

With such a demand for labor upon the part of the 
colonies and with such a supply in England, emigration to 
the colonies was the natural consequence. The problem 
was how to transport the poor, since ship passage was 
expensive and far beyond the means of those who desired 
to migrate. The simplest solution was indented servitude. 
This was apprenticeship divested of its educational op- 
portunities. The servant in return for his transportation 
guaranteed to work for some master for a specified period 
of years. 

Indented servitude was thus the Colonial analogue of the 
agricultural apprenticeship provided by the Statute of Arti- 
ficers, and as such flourished chiefly in the great agricultural 

*The number affected by the sheep enclosures is a much-mooted 
question. Prof. E. F. Gay, who has made a detailed study of this 
point, believes that the number has been over-estimated and that it did 
not exceed 20,000, cf. Tawney, The Agrarian Problem of the Sixteenth 
Century. 



28 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [234 

areas of the South. Pennsylvania too, had its share of 
servants/ and the Dutch patroons with their extensive hold- 
ings absorbed a considerable number annually. With 
these two exceptions, how^ever, the cases of agricultural in- 
dentures in the upper and middle tier of colonies were not 
as common as in the South." 

J. Apprenticeship Compared with Industrial Servitude. 

It was difficult to distinguish between an apprentice and 
an indentured servant. Both were under contract to serve 
for a period of years, both were subject to the same regula- 
tions as regards running away and breaking their contract,. 
and the same statutes were often applied to both classes. 
In popular speech they frequently served as interchangeable 
terms. ^ The chief differences between the two classes may 
be summarized as follows : 

( I ) The apprentice was supposed to receive trade instruc- 
tion, while the indentured servant was not. However, even 
here the popular confusion of terms was so great that we 
find many indentures specifying that the so-called " servant "" 
is to be taught a trade. Obviously this is only apprentice- 
ship in disguise.'^ 

^ K. F. Geiser, Redemption ers and Indentured Servants in the Colony 
and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Supp. Yale Review, vol. x. 
no. 2, August, 190 1. 

*Yet see in vol. xviii of New York Historical Society Collections, p. 
571, where in 1696 Elizabeth Monis in consideration of her passage 
from England bound herself " to live as an apprentice with Captain 
Kidd for four years." Also in the Acts of the Province of Mass. Bay, 
vol. i, p. 634, an act passed Feb. 26, 1709, whereby "A bounty of forty 
shillings per head for male servants between 8 and 25 be given to 
anyone who would bring into the province one (a servant) from 
Great Britain." 

'See Franklin's Autobiography, p. 172 (Bigelow Ed.) where he speaks 
of George Webb, who was being taught the trade of printing and there- 
fore was plainly an apprentice, as a " bought servant ". 

^ See Record of Indentures of Individuals Bound Out as Apprentices, 



^35] APPRE.NTICESH1P PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 29 

(2) The Colonies, as we shall see later, prescribed the 
rudiments of a liberal education for the apprentice, while 
they required nothing of the sort for the indentured ser- 
vant. The practical result of this was that, as the servant 
could thus work all the time while the apprentice must be 
taught, the servant was the more sought after, and his 
service-time brought a higher price. 

(3) Since apprenticeship primarily involved ''learning," 
the apprentice was generally a minor, while the indented 
servant was usually an adult. 

(4) The apprentice was generally a child born in the 
Colonies, while the indentured serv^ant almost invariabl}^ 
came from abroad. This meant that the apprentice made 
out his indenture under the immediate supervision of the 
Colonial Government, while the servant often brought his 
with him from a foreign country.^ Consequently the work 
ing relations of the servant were far harder to control. 

(5) The unexpired serving-time of the indentured ser- 
vant, like that of the slave, was transferable without the con- 
sent of the servant. Theoretically at least, according to 
English common law, the unexpired serving-time of the 
apprentice could only be transferred with the consent of the 
apprentice himself, although in practice this provision was 
violated many times. 

Servants, etc., in Philadelphia (between 1771-73). This contains 51 
cases where an ostensible servant was to be taught a trade. A typical 
one is as follows : John Sherman binds himself out as " a servant 
to be taught the art, trade, and mystery of a spinning wheel maker 
and have three quarters schooling," p. 5. Despite this terra, this is 
nothing but apprenticeship. It is characteristic in showing the hazy 
lines of demarcation between apprentices and servants. 

Conversely, some apprentices were indentured to learn the " art 
and mysteries of husbandry." However, farming was not such a 
science then as to justify the idea that these apprentices were actually 
given instruction. These so-called apprentices were really indented 
servants. 

^This does not apply to the redemptioners who signed their in- 
dentures after landing. 



30 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [236 

4. Classification of Indented Servants 

Analyzing the status of indented servitude somewhat 
more closely, we may say in general that it embraced two 
main categories — voluntary servitude and involuntary.^ 
Each of these in turn has further subdivisions. 

Voluntary servitude included (a) those men and women 
w^ho sold themselves to a ship-master or other persons for 
a term of years in return for their passage, the ship-master 
in turn selling them to the highest bidder upon their arrival 
in the colonies, (b) the redemptioners or ^* f ree-willers " 
who, without selling themselves to the ship master, engaged 
passage and upon their arrival undertook to sell themselves 
into servitude. This latter class conducted their sale with- 
out the aid of the middle-man, the ship master. It was pro- 
vided, however, that should the redemptioner fail to dis- 
pose of himself within a specified time (generally 30 days) 
and thus be unable to pay for his passage, the title to his 
services should revert back to the ship master, who could 
then dispose of him. 

Involuntary servitude included four classes: (a) Children 
bound out as apprentices by English local authorities. For 
example, in 1619 100 poor London boys and girls were 
bound out for seven years to the Virginia Company by 
the mayor and council of London. Some of these appren- 
tices were in turn disposed of by the company to independ- 
ent planters.^ 

(b) Children and adults forcibly seized and transported 
to this country against their will. This importation of ser- 

*For slightly different classification see J. C. Ballagh, White Servi- 
ttide in Virginia, pp. 33-4; (McCormack, White Servitude in Maryland, 
pp. 37-44)- For a contemporary description of the kind of servants see 
Peter Kalm, Travels into North America, vol. i, pp. 387-390. 

'J. C. Ballagh, White Servitude in Virginia, pp. 29-29. 



237] APPRENTICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 31 

vants proved such a profitable business that many traders 
were not satisfied with legitimate gains. In Virginia the 
serving time of a male servant would bring from 40 £ to 
60 £} Virginia and Maryland also gave bounties of fifty 
acres of land for each servant imported. The water-front 
men of England were a notoriously criminal set, and, be- 
ginning in the reign of Charles I, they began to kidnap 
children, put them on board vessels, and ship them to 
America, where they were sold intO' servitude. This prac- 
tice was general up to 1670, and continued intermittently 
after that. The '' spirits " as the kidnappers were called, 
excited a popular terror in England comparable only to the 
uproar aroused a few years ago over " white slavers." ' 

(c) Debtors. Disposing of one's person (or having it 
seized) to satisfy a debt had long been a common practice 
in England. Now the demands of the new country gave the 
practice a great impetus. Most of the indentures thus 
taken out were of course for servitude, but many were for 
apprenticeship also. Moreover, once arrived in the Colon- 
ies, a person falling into debt was liable to fresh indenture.^ 
Pennsylvania stipulated that debtors unable to pay charges 
against them shoud be sold into service.* In Massachusetts 
the practice was so common and the evils so flagrant that 

^Ihid., p. 41. 

'See P. A. Bruce, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth 
Century, pp. 613-15. 

• N. Y. Historical Society Collections, vol. xlii. ** Indentures of 
Apprentices," 1718-1727. iSept. 14, 1725. "This indenture witnesseth 
that Mary Van der Riper of the City of New York, spinster, in con- 
sideration of her being justly indebted unto Just Looy of the same 
place, cooper, in the sum of fifteen pounds, and having no other way 
to pay or satisfy the same than by servitude, hath put herself and by 
these presents doth put herself a servant to the said Just Looy to serve 
him and his assigns during the full end and term of four years next 
ensuing." 

*' Laws of Province of Pennsylvania, 1728, p. 80. 



^2 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [238 

the General Court in 1683 enacted that such pressure into 
service must be supervised by the proper legal authorities/ 
(d) Convicts deported from England to the colonies. 
This class was a most numerous one, but not nearly so 
dangerous as the term would indicate. The convict class 
included ( i ) Political criminals. The latter half of the 
17th century was a tumultuous one in English politics. 
The civil wars, Penruddock's revolt against the Common- 
wealth in 1655, the Scotch Insurrection in 1666, the up- 
rising of the West under Monmouth in 1685 and its bloody 
suppression by Jeffries, together with the Jacobite rebellion 
of 1 71 5, all furnished their quota of prisoners who were 
despatched to the colonies for a term of years. Most of 
these prisoners were, to be sure, sent to the Barbadoes, but 
some were sent to New England " and a great many to the 
South. Sixteen hundred and ten Scotch prisoners, accord- 
ing to Ballagh, were sent to Virginia in 1651 after the 
battle of Worcester.'' (2) Civil Criminals. Large num- 
bers of these were dumped upon America by the English 
authorities, and many sentences of death were commuted to 
deportation to the colonies. Though this class as a whole 
was not a good ingredient in the colonial population, yet 
it too, undoubtedly, included many decent individuals. The 
criminal code of England during the 17th and i8th cen- 
turies was notoriously severe, and inflicted heavy penalties 

'^Records of Mass. Bay Colony, vol. v, p. 415. During the latter half 
of the eighteenth century, forced service for debt was very generally 
changed throughout the colonies to imprisonment. Instead of selling a 
debtor into service, his creditor now threw him into jail. Imprison- 
ment for debt was widely prevalent in the period 18101835. Cf. Mc- 
Master, History of the People of the U. S., vol. iii, pp. 534-35. Also 
Annual Reports of the Prison Discipline Society (Boston), beginning 
with that of 1825. 

'Especially those of the 1666 revolt. 

'Ballagh, op. cit., p. 35. 



239] AP^RE,NnCESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD ^^^ 

for offenses which we should now class as mere mis- 
demeanors. 

Maryland was thickly infested with these '' criminals " 
and one of her historians has estimated that at least 20,000 
of them entered the colony before the Revolution, and that 
in the period 1 750-1 770 the annual importation of con- 
victs was between 400 and 500/ 

5. Conditions of Indented Servants 

The length of service of the indentured servant varied 
from colony to colony. In Virginia it was originally seven 
years, in Maryland five years, in Rhode Island commonly 
ten years." One source of trouble was that many servants 
were held under verbal agreements without any written 
contract. Masters would then often allege that the agree- 
ment held for a longer period of time than it actually did. 
To remedy this injustice, the Colonies passed a great deal of 
legislation. In 1654, Virginia decreed that servants over 
sixteen who did not have written indentures, should serve 
for six years, and that those under sixteen should serve 
until they were twenty- four. In 1661 she changed the term 
of those over sixteen to five years (so that a servant might 
be free as young at twenty-one) while those under sixteen 
were to remain bound until they were twenty-four. In 1 666 
she provided that servants over nineteen were to serve for 
five years but all those under nineteen until they reached the 
age of twenty-four.^ South Carolina in 171 7 provided 
that an unindentured servant should have ** five years ser- 
vice but not be freed in that time before 21/"* thus paral- 

*Scharf, History of Maryland, vol. i, pp. 371-72. 

•For discussion of this point see Ballagh, White Servitude in Virginia. 
pp. 24-25. 

* For further study of the Virginia situation, cf.. P. A. Bruce, 
Economic History of Virginia, vol. ii, pp. 3-7. 
^ South Carolina Statutes, vol. iii, p. 14. 



34 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [240 

leling the Virginia Act of 1661. Maryland enacted rather 
complicated legislation in 171 5 in order to prevent fraud 
and protect the servants from the danger of serving exces- 
sive time/ All of these colonies required masters to register 
their servants. The period of service could, however, 
legally be prolonged as a punishment for serious misbe- 
haviour, such as running away,^ contracting a marriage 
with another servant, giving birth to or begetting a child, or 
committing fornication with the negroes, free or slave.* 

Rimning away became such a serious problem that the 
Colonies tried two other deterrents besides prolongation 
of the term of service, namely, the setting of strict bounds 
beyond which the servant might not go, and corpK)ral punish- 
ment if he overstepped them. Massachusetts did not 

^ Acts of Assembly Passed in the Province of Maryland from 1692 
to 1715, p. 144, " that whosoever shall transport any servant into this 
province without indenture, such servant being above the age of twenty- 
two, shall be obliged to serve the full time of five years ; if between 
eighteen and twenty-two, without indenture, six years; if between 
fifteen and eighteen, without indenture, seven years; if under fifteen, 
without indenture, shall serve until he or they arrive at the full age 
of twenty-two years." 

" In Virginia, the term of runaway was extended at first, i year, then 
lengthened. See Henning, Statutes, vol. i. p. 252. Statutes, vol. iii. 
p. 29. Act of 1686. (b) Pennsylvania stipulated (1710) that servants 
who ran away should serve five additional days for every day absent. 
Quoted from Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania, 1728, p. i. (c) 
Maryland 1715 — a runaway servant " shall make such satisfaction by 
servitude otherwise — not exceeding ten days service for one day's 
absence." Acts of Assembly Passed in the Proznnce of Maryland 
from 1692 to 1715, p. 141. 

' Henning, Virginia Statutes, vol. iii, pp. 452-53. The law of 1705 pro- 
vided for one year additional service on the part of a female servant 
giving birth to an illegitimate child — with these exceptions: ist, if the 
master was the father of the child, no additional service was required: 
2nd. if a negro was the father, the mother must pay either !$£ to the 
county or be sold into service for five additional years. — Laws of 
Province of Penn. 1728-40 (Act of 1700) imposed a maximum of two 
years and minimum of one year additional time. 



241 ] APPRENTICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 35 

allow the servant to leave the township without written 
permission. Maryland placed the limit at ten miles from 
his master's home/ South Carolina placed it at two miles, 
and decreed that if a servant were discovered beyond 
bounds, he was to be returned to his master and be whipped 
by the constable of every town through which he passed; 
when he finally reached home his master was to complete the 
good work by administering a drubbing of his own.^ 

In all cases of misdemeanor by the servants the adminis- 
tration of the law was in the hands of magistrates, who 
were, at least in the South, either the planters themselves 
or else their friends. The possibility of abuse of power was 
therefore very great. For a like reason, protection against 
actual ill-treatment by the masters was not strong. By the 
terms of the indenture the master contracted to feed and 
clothe the servant sufficiently, not to over-work him, and to 
treat him kindly. Upon complaint of the servant, the county 
courts could summon the master and try the case. If found 
guilty, the master was fined, and if the offense was flagrant, 
he lost the services of his servant. A semi-servile class, 
however, would obviously be slow to make any complaints, 
and if they did, the courts to whom they had to appeal 
would be apt to be prejudiced against them. All this of 
course is mere inference. The actual truth is so hard to dis- 
cover that any definite statement would be misleading. 
Optimistic interpreters of the status of the indented servant, 
however, base their case against every probability.^ 

^ See South Carolina Statutes, vol. iii, p. 710. Act of 1744. Virginia 
had a similar system of administering punishment in correspondence 
to distance from house. Henning, vol. iii, pp. 456-7, 1705. Records 
of Mass. Bay Colony, vol. i, p. 115, Act of 1634; A^ts of Assembly 
passed in the Province of Maryland, 1692- 171 5. 

* South Carolina Statutes, vol. iii, p. 627. 

' For optimistic accounts, see McCormack, White Servitude in Mary- 
land, p. 78; M. C. Tyler, England in America, p. 155. For pessimistic 
account, see Eddis* Letters from America, London, 1792. 



36 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [242 

Indentured servitude was prevalent for a much longer 
period of time than is commonly thought, and always com- 
prised a considerable share of the colonial population. 
Thus in Virginia in 1671 there were 6,000 indentured ser- 
vants out of the total population of 40,000, as compared 
with only 2,000 negro slaves ; ^ a ratio of approximately one 
servant to every five freemen. 

The German migration from the Palatinate into Pennsyl- 
vania began about 17 10, and after 1728 practically all the 
immigrants into the province entered as indentured ser- 
vants.^ During the years 1 771 -1773 nearly 5,000 in- 
dentured servants entered the port of Philadelphia alone.* 
McCormack estimates * that in 1660 the ratio of servants to 
freemen in Maryland was about i to 11, and that in 1752 
it was approximately the same. The ratio being thus con- 
stant, though the population had increased and the original 
servants been freed, the only conclusion that can be drawn is 
that many of the freemen had either been servants them- 
selves or were children of servants. In the North, the 
ratio was of course not so great. Rhode Island in 1708 had 
482 servants in a total population of 7 181. or a ratio of 
about I to 14.' 

Indentured service continued through the i8th and into 

1 Henning, Statutes, vol. ii, p. 515. Gov. Berkeley's reply to inter- 
rogations of commissioners. 

'C/. Geiser, Redemptioners and Indentured Servants in Penn., pp. 
22-2B. The earlier Germans 1710-1728 were prosperous and did not 
come as indentured servants, but the poorer elements sold themselves 
for ship-money to escape from the Rhenish provinces. Some of the 
Scotch-Irish immigration in this period (after 1728) entered inde- 
pendently. 

•"Record of Indentures in the Office of the Mayor of Philadelphia," 
reprinted vol. xvi. Proceedings of Penn., pp. 4-325. 

* McCormack, White Senntude in Maryland, pp. 28-29. 

*J. G. l^dXlrcy, Compendious History of New England, vol. iii, p. 330. 



243] APPRENTICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 37 

the iQth^ century. In fact there was not appreciable de- 
cHne in the number of German *' free-willers " who entered 
Maryland until after 181 7, when legislation protecting the 
servants made the trade unprofitable for the shipmasters.^ 
For the Colonies as a whole, Professor Commons goes so 
far as to estimate that one-half of all the immigrants came 
as indentured serv^ants.^ 

With the development of slavery, however, white servi- 
tude declined. It was not until about 1700 that slavery 
became the dominant institution in Virginia, and its triumph 
in the other colonies was still slower. Negro slavery dis- 
placed white service because it was more economical. A 
master could own a white servant for a few years, and 
colonial legislation was tending to decrease this period 
steadily. He could own the negro, on the other hand, for 
life, and his descendants after him. The negro was, 
furthermore, more amenable to grinding labor than was the 
servant; and, if a runaway, more recognizable. Despite 
his greater utility, his purchase price was at first only about 
double that of the indentured servant.* This was due to 
the increasingly efficient organization of the slave trade by 
which a small amount of rnm could buy a large number of 
slaves. 

* See "Diary of John Harrower," reproduced in the Am. Hist. 
Review, vol. vi, when he writes (1774) of " Seventy servants on board 
all indented to serve for four years there at their different occupa- 
tions," p. 73. 

'Hurd's statement that "this species of servitude (indented) became 
obsolete about the time of the War of the 'Revolution." (Hurd, Lazv 
of Freedom and Bondage, vol. i, p. 218) is in consequence erroneous. 

'J. R. Commons, Races and Immigrants in America, pp. 30-31. 

*See letter from Col. Byrd of Virginia to Mr. Anchem of Rotterdam 
(1739) quoted in the Am. Hist. Rev., vol. i, p. 90 where Byrd states that 
Palitinates selling their four year term " fetch from 6 to nine pounds," 
while negro slaves brought about twice as much. 



38 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [244 

The introduction of slavery made the lot of the servant 
increasingly hard.^ He was subject to the new competition 
and punished severely by the master. It was common for 
the same legislative act to provide for both servants and 
slaves, and in the eyes of the law they were generally 
linked together.^ A contemporary observer, William Eddis, 
said : " Negroes being a property for life, the death of 
slaves ... is a material loss to the proprietor; they are 
therefore in almost every instance under more comfortable 
circumstances than the miserable Europeans." ^ 

What happened to the servant after his term was over 
has seldom been satisfactorily discussed. Ballagh states 
that the freed servant formed " a very strong type of 
peasant proprietor."* — and that he "provided for the 
growth of a strong yeomanry."^ Though the matter is 
shrouded in uncertainty, all the evidence points to an op- 
posite conclusion. All that he received from his master 
when freed was some clothing, a few bushels of corn, a tool 
or two, and sometimes a gun.® 

* Compare George Aldis* favorable account of the condition of in- 
dented servants in Maryland about 1670 with the pessimistic account 
given in 1792 by William Eddis, Letters from America which describes 
conditions after the competition with slavery had set in. 

'C/. Acts of Assembly passed in the Province of Maryland, 1715, 
p. 141. 

•Eddis, William, Letters from America, London, 1792. (Describing 
conditions in America about 1770), pp. 69-70. 
Ballagh, op. cit., p. ^7. 

*Ihid., p. 90. 

* Acts of Assembly of Maryland, 1692-17 15. "Every man-servant 
shall, at 6uch time of expiration of his servitude — have allowed and 
given to him, one new hat, a good suit — ; one new shift of white 
linen ; one new pair of bench-made shoes and stockings ; two hoes, and 
one ax; and one gun of twenty shillings price. All women-servants, 
at the expiration of their servitude, as aforesaid, shall have allowed 
and given them, a waistcoat and petticoat, a new shift of white linen, 



245] APPRENTICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 39 

Bruce states that the freed servant in Virginia received 
only a couple of suits of clothes, a few tools, and enough 
corn to last approximately a year, the total value of these 
articles not exceeding io£/ Contrary to popular impres- 
sion, a bonus of 50 acres of land was not given, Such an 
outfit was not sufficient for the f reedman to set himself up in 
independence on any but the smallest scale, and small-scale 
farming was just what the agricultural system of the South- 
ern colonies was not adapted to. The better lands were al- 
ready appropriated, and the population was practically self- 
sufficing in so far as necessities were concerned. Towns 
were few and there was little call at this time for further 
artisans. Add to this the incoming of slavery and the con- 
sequent falling off in the demand for ordinary hired labor, 
and what place was left for the freed servants ? From what 
more likely class could the landless whites, the '^ crackers,'' 
" poor whites " and " cove-dwellers " of the mountains have 
been recruited? In large part these surplus freedmen may 
well have been driven to the interior and to the uplands, shut 
out from large landed possessions, and barred from lucra- 
tive employment by slave labor. 

6. Apprenticeship in the Northern and Middle Colonics 

In the North the situation was different. Here appren- 
ticeship, not indented service, was the rule. Since there 
were more towns and cities, there was consequently a greater 
division of labor, and it was necessary to recruit men for the 
handicraft industries of the time. The blacksmith, the 
cooper, the wheelwright, the mason, the carpenter, the 

shoes and stockings; a bib apron; two caps of white linen; and three 
barrels of Indian corn," p. 143. Cf. South Carolina Statutes, Act of 
1717, vol. iii, p. 14. In this colony the master gave only clothing to 
servant at termination of his service. 
* P. A. Bruce, Econ. Hist, of Va. in i/th Century, pp. 42-44. 



40 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [246 

tailor, were necessary figures in every northern town/ 
Many of the seaports had their shipyards, and boys were 
even apprenticed to learn the " art and mysteries of naviga- 
tion and mariner." ^ 

Between the years 1694 and 1707, 107 indentures were 
recorded in the town of New York alone, while in the period 
1 718-1727, 198 were filed.* 

The length of apprenticeship varied. A statistical study 
of the industries filed in New York for the years 1 718-1727 * 
shows the following results : 



Period of Servue 


No. 


Per cent 


Less than 7 years 


9 


4.6 


7 years 


120 


60.6 


More than 7 years 


69 


34.8 



This shows the preponderance, although not the univer- 
sality of the seven-year term in New York. Of those 
whose terms of service exceeded seven years, twenty were 
for eight years, twenty-one for nine years, and nine for ten 
years. There were two instances of sixteen-year appren- 
ticeships and one each for seventeen and eighteen years. 
Philadelphia figures for 1771-73 show different results.^ 

* Edward Johnson in his Wonder-Working Providence of Sion's 
Saviour in New England, p. 248, mentions the following trades which 
in 1648 were represented in Boston: "tailors, carpenters, joiners, 
glaziers, painters, gun-smiths, lock-smiths, blacksmiths, naylers, cutlers, 
weavers, brewers, bakers, coster-mongers, felt-makers, braziers, pen- 
terers, and tinkers, rug-makers, masons, lime, brick and tile makers, 
card makers, turners, pump-makers, wheelers, glowers, fell-mongers, 
and furriers," p. 248 (Jamieson Edit.)- 

' Weeden. Economic History of Nezv England, vol. i, p. 259. The 
term of apprenticeship for the sea was generally for four years. 

*New York Historical Society's Collection, vol. xviii, "Indentures 
of Apprentices," vol. xlii, " Indentures of apprentices." 

* Ref. A^. Y. Historical Society's Collections, vol. xlii. " Indentures 
of Apprentces 1718-27." 

'^Record of Indentures of Apprentices, servants, etc. filed in the 
office of the Mayor of Philadelphia, Pa., 1771-73. 



247] APPRENTICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 41 

Of a total of 171 cases chosen at random from the inden- 
tures filed for these years, the following were the frequen- 
cies of the various terms of service: 



Period 


of Service 


No 


I 


year 


2 


2 


years 


5 


3 




20 


4 




17 


5 




30 


6 




20 


7 




16 


8 




8 


9 




9 


10 




7 



Period of Service 


No 


II years 


7 


12 " 


6 


13 •' 


9 


14 " 


3 


15 " 


4 


16 " 


I 


17 " 


4 


i8 " 


I 


19 " 


I 


20 " 


I 



171 

The fact that 55% of the indentures were for less than 
seven years in Philadelphia as compared with only 4.6% in 
New York is significant. This produces a corresponding 
reversal in the number whose terms were exactly seven 
years. Whereas in New York this group comprised 60.6% 
of the whole number, in Philadelphia it former only 9.4%- 
The group above seven years was comparativey constant, 
there being approximately 35% in each case, although there 
were a greater number of long term engagements in Penn- 
sylvania. 

Thus the term of service was in general shorter in Penn- 
sylvania than in New York, although allowance must be 
made for the fact that New York figures are of an earlier 
date. In the period between New York's latest figures 
and Pennsylvania's earliest. New York may appreciably 
have shortened her term. 

7. Functions of Colonial Appprenticcship 
The function of Colonial apprenticeship was fourfold. It 
was at once a punishment for debt, a penalty for idleness, 



^2 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [248 

a system of poor relief, and the earliest educational institu- 
tion. 

(i) It was a punishment for debt. We have already 
seen how prominent a part binding-out for debt played in 
the importation of indentured servants and indeed often in 
their indenturing on this side of the water. Owing to the 
frequently undifferentiated state of apprenticeship and in- 
dented servitude and the ambiguity of the law, many 
of these indentures were made out for apprenticeship in- 
stead of for true servitude. 

(2) It was a penalty for idleness. This, even in a child, 
was a sin to the Puritan. Connecticut ordered her select- 
men to put out to service single persons * who lived an 
idle and riotous life." ^ Massachusetts followed a similar 
policy and bound out those whom she deemed idlers.^ 

(3) Apprenticeship here, as in England, was a system of 
poor relief. Massachusetts as early as 1636 had enacted 
■ '' that all towns shall take care to order and dispose of all 
single persons and inmates within their town to service." * 
Nor was this merely paper legislation; records exist of its 
enforcement.* In 1692 Massachusetts reenacted this law 

^ Connecticut Colonial Records, vol. ii, 1673, p. 66, also vol. iv. Mass. 
Col. Records, vol. ii, p. 180, where the selectmen given power to present 
to the court all " idle and unprofitable persons, and all children who 
are not diligently employed by their parents" and the courts then to 
bind them out. Cf. also vol. v, p. 2)7Z- 

^ Cf. Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, 
Mass., vol. V, where in 1669 it was ordered that Joseph Turland " an 
idler and extravagant person " who " runs up and down, neglects his 
business, and is in danger of falling into mischief " should be bound 
out by the selectmen of Beverly, p. 160. 

* Records of Mass. Bay Colony, vol. i, p. 186. 

* Manuscript Collections of Mass. Archives, vol. ix, p. 5, where record 
is made where the children of Goodman Burril (evidently deceased) 
should be put out to service since their grandfather would not support 
them. The mother was to be shipped back to England, 



249] APPRENTICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 43 

with the provision that the selectmen should bind out the 
children and have the legal right to act for them/ In 1703 
they made a further emendation. The previous law had 
been thought to apply only to children whose parents 
actually received alms; the new law now declared that it 
applied to all children whose parents were deemed unable 
to maintain them. ' It was thus prospective, not merely re- 
trospective. This extension of the law closely parallels 
that of the English Poor Law of 1601, which, as we have 
seen, similarly broadened the interpretation of what con- 
stituted a " poor " parent. 

Virginia in 1672 had passed similar legislation. The 
Justices of the Peace of every country were ordered to '^ put 
the lazvs of England against vagrant, idle, and dissolute 
persons in strict execution." ' The county courts must 
bind out '* all children whose parents are not able to bring 
them up, apprentices, tradesmen, the males till one and 
twenty years of age, and the females to other necessar}^ 
employments, till eighteen years and not longer." * South 
Carolina in her act of 1740 provided for the children of 
indigent parents in parallel fashion, while Connecticut, and 
indeed all the other colonies, built their poor law legislation 
as closely as possible upon the English model.' 

(4) Finally, apprenticeship was a state-directed educa- 
tional system. Masters were in general required by statute 
law, to impart not only trade training, but to give instruction 
in the liberal arts, and to inculcate sound mortality as well. 
Massachusetts in 1642, ordered that all parents and masters, 

* Mass. Col. Records, not vol. iv, must be vi or vii, p. 67. 
*Acts of the Colony of Mass. Bay, vol. iv, p. 538. 
•Henning's Statutes, vol. ii, p. 298. 
*Ibid. 

*For review of Connecticut system, see E. W. Capen, The Historical 
Evolution of the Poor Law in Connecticut. 



44 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [250 

*' should endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, their 
children and apprentices, so much learning, as may enable 
them perfectly to read the English tongue and knowledge 
of the capital laws," and further " do breed and bring up 
their children and apprentices in some honest, lawful call- 
ing, labour or employment." ^ If parents or masters neg- 
lected to give this intellectual or trade instruction, the 
children were to be taken away from them by the selectmen 
and indentured as apprentices to masters who would give it. 
Thus apprenticeship was made to serve as a school for 
children uninstructed at home. The prescribed education 
for every child included some instruction in the trade and 
some in the liberal arts. Failure on the art of the master 
or parent to give either was punished by the removal of the 
child. 

Free public schools for the poor hardly existed in Massa- 
chusetts before 1700, and from then on spread but slowly. "^ 
In this interregnum the device of apprenticeship served as 
a rude substitute. It was the only guarantee that children 
whose parents zvould not or could not pay the customary 
tuition fees, should be instructed. It thus established the 
principle of universal free education. 

Records exist of the enforcement of this Massachusetts 
Act of 1642. The selectmen of Dorchester, Brookline, and 
Watertown haled delinquent parents before them and car- 
ried out the provisions of the law.^ In 1668, however, the 
legislature stated that it had not been well observed, but 
that the selectmen should enforce it more stringently in 

^Colonial Laws of Mass. (edit, by Whitman), p. 136. 

'G. L. Jackson, The Development of School Support in Colonial 
Massachusetts, pp. 34-74, gives an analysis of the early school records 
of 21 Massachusetts towns. Dedham had a free public school in 1646, 
but it was an isolated instance for several decades. 

^For detailed discussion, see Jackson, op. cit., pp. 29-31. 



251] APPRENTICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 45 

the future. The Essex county court in the following year 
ordered the selectmen of Topfield to enforce the act and 
to make out a '' list of all those young persons who do live 
from under family government." ^ 

Professor Jernegan holds that the act of 1642 was nul- 
lified in 1695 by the refusal of the English Privy Council 
to allow the act passed by the Massachusetts legislature upon 
the merging of the colonies of New Plymouth and Massa- 
chusetts which continued all legislation hitherto enacted by 
either colony.' Thereafter all new legislation concerning 
apprentices save for a special act in 1735 for Boston, 
applied only to poor children and not to all children. With 
the exception of Boston, therefore, apprenticeship could not 
be legally resorted to after 1695 as a method of educating 
children whose parents had neglected their duty. 

Both the Connecticut and New Haven colonies passed acts 
almost identical with the Massachusetts act of 1642.^ Thus 
the New Haven act of 1656 provided that if parents and 
masters did not teach children and apprentices " to read the 
Scriptures and other good and profitable printed works 
in the English tongue and to understand the main grounds 
and principles of Christian religion necessary to salvation," 
the children were to be taken from them and placed as ap- 
prentices '' with such others who shall better both for 
publick convenience and for the particular good of said 
children of apprentices."* 

In New York, on the other hand, apprenticeship was not 

^Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massa- 
chusetts, vol. iv, p. 212. 

' M. W. Jernegan, Compulsory Education in the American Colonies, 
School Review, vol. xxvii, pp. 24-43. 

• R. F. Seybold, Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education in 
Colonial New England and New York, pp. 52-60. 

^New Haven's Settling in New England and some Laws for Gov- 
ernment, published in 1656. 



46 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [252 

used as a means of compelling parents to educate their 
children. Indeed it was not until 1788 that it was required 
that poor children bound out as apprentices be taught read- 
ing and writing/ Despite the absence of legal requirement, 
however, approximately one half of the indentures filed be- 
tween 1694 and 1707 specified that the master should teach, 
or have the apprentice taught, reading and writing, while 
from 1 71 8 to 1727 the percentage was still greater.^ A 
large nimiber of the indentures provided that the master 
should send the apprentice to school during the winter, or 
during the evenings. This is a clear indication of the use 
of agencies other than the master himself to give liberal 
training to the apprentice. 

By 1770 in Pennsylvania as well, although legal enact- 
ment was lacking, the indentures almost invariably required 
the master to give schooling to the apprentice.^ 

In Virginia, the apprenticeship regulations took a slightly 
different turn. A law of 1646 provided for the apprentic- 
ing of poor children " to tradesmen or husbandmen to be 
brought up in some good and lawful calling." * So far it 
is merely the application of the Elizabethan poor law. But 
it also commanded the commissioners of every county to- 
choose two poor children, whose parents were unable to 
support them and send them " to James City '' — ^to be em- 
ployed in the public flax houses under such masters and 
mistresses as shall then be appointed, in carding, knotting, 
and spinning.'^ It was prescribed that the children should be 

* Seybold, op. cit., p. 87. 

•New York Historical Society's Collections. Vol. xviii, Indentures 
of Apprentices, 1694-1707. Vol. xlii, Indentures of Apprentices, 1718- 
1727. 

' Record of the Indentures of Individuals Bound as Apprentices,. 
Servants, etc., Philadelphia, 1771-1773. 

*Henning, Statutes, vol. i, pp. Z2^37. 

^Ibid. 



253] APPRE-NTICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 47 

furnished from their home county with sufficient clothing 
and provisions to maintain them/ An appropriation of 
10,000 lbs. of tobacco was made to house these children, and 
two buildings were ordered to be erected for them. 

It does not require much perspicacity to perceive that this 
was a trade-school for poor children, state-built and county- 
supported. No mention is made of teaching the children 
reading or writing. The act, unlike that of Massachusetts, 
provided for industrial training only. It was not till 1705, 
in an act applying apprenticeship to orphans, that it was 
ordered "that the master. . . . shall be obliged to teach 
him to read and write." ^ This educational provision was 
extended in 1769 to illegitimates, when it was provided 
that they should be indentured as apprentices under the 
protection of the County Court. So long as the aristocratic 
landholders were in power in Virginia, free public educa- 
tion was impossible.^ Apprenticeship was therefore the 
only means of education that the poorer classes pKDSsessed. 

In all the colonies with the possible exception of the South, 
therefore, trade training was not the only educational feature 
of apprenticeship. Instruction was required in the liberal 
arts as well, while in New England, the colonies required 
that the apprentices be educated in the Christian religion and 
sound ethics. Apprenticeship was thus not a mere means 
of acquiring trade efficiency, but it was a preparation for 
citizenship and for life. 

' To wit — " Six barrels of corne, two coverletes or one rugg and one 
blanket, one bed, one wooden bowle or tray, two pewter spoons, a sow 
shote of six months old, two laying hens, with convenient apparell 
both linen and woolen with hose and shoes" — certainly a quaint pro- 
vision. Henning, vol. viii, p. S7^. 

Henning, Statutes, vol. iii, pp. 375-76. 
'For an account of Virginia's early education system see E. W. 
Knight, Th^ Evolution of Publw Education in Virginia, Suwanee 
Review, January, 1916, pp. 24-41. 



48 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [254 

8. Other Features of Colonial Apprenticeship 

While in theory the consent of the apprentice was neces- 
sary before he could legally be transferred from one master 
to another, in practice this provision was often disregarded 
or deemed a mere technicality. Apprentices were often listed 
among the assets of bankrupts, and were either taken person- 
ally by the creditors as payment for debt or sold to satisfy the 
obligation/ Upon the death of the master, the apprentice 
was often sold with the rest of the estate by the heirs.^ 
Often indeed the sale of apprentice's unexpired serving-time 
was resorted to by thriving and solvent masters. The 
papers of the colonial period frequently contained adver- 
tisements listing apprentices for sale.^ 

Again, colonies, in order to protect the apprentices pro- 
vided that they should not be sold out of the colony.'* 
Such a measure was necessary since it would otherwise have 
been possible for a Massachusetts cobbler to have sold his 
boy apprentice to a Virginian tobacco planter. Since the 
apprentice would be out of Massachusetts jurisdiction, he 
could be exploited as cheap labor. 

Female apprentices served longer and were given fewer 
educational opportunites than were boys, (a) They served 

^Records and Files of Quarterly Court, Essex County, Mass., vol. 
iv, p. 445, ibid., vol. iii, p. 174. 

^New York Historical Society Collections, vol. xlii, Indentures of 
App. 1718-1727, p. 121, where 2oi was paid to Peter Colwell by William 
Dugdale and John Leach " for 11 years 3 months of unexpired serving 
time of John Galloway, Apprentice." Also Mass. Archives, vol. ix 
(Domestic Relations), p. 6064 where the unexpired term of an ap- 
prentice was transferred in payment of debt. 

* Boston News Letter, April 15, 1774, ihid., April 25. 

^ Laws of Province of Penn., 1721, pp. 9-10. South CaroHna pro- 
vided that not only should the apprentice not be sent out of the colony 
but that he must be transferred only to those persons engaged in the 
same trade. Cf. South Carolina Statutes, vol. iii, p. 544. 



^55] ^'^PP-^E,NTICESHIF PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 49 

longer. Of 125 cases selected as random from the Phila- 
delphia record books, 41, or 32.8% were for less than 7 
years, 13, or 10.4% were for 7 years, and 71, or 56.8% 
were for more than seven years, whereas only 35.67o of the 
indentures of men were for more than seven years.* 
(b) They were given fewer educational opportunities. 
Though there are instances of girls entering the trades,* 
such cases were too rare to affect their general status. 
Woman's career was in the home, and formal education 
was deemed unnecessary for it. Though bound out to a 
tradesman, female apprentices were really not workshop 
assistants but rather household servants. The technical 
educational provisions in their indentures were generally 
confined to specifying that they should be taught " to sew 
plainly." ' 

Their liberal education was also less than that of the boys. 
The Massachusetts law of 1642, as we have seen, specified 
that while all male apprentices should be taught to read and 
write, female apprentices were only required to be taught 
reading.* In 1771 ''ciphering" was added to the educa- 
tional requirements of the male apprentice, and writing, but 
not "ciphering," to that of the female apprentice. The 
privileges of the girl apprentice thus always lagged a step 
behind those of her brother.^ 

p. An Appraisal of Colonial Apprenticeship 

In summing up our survey of Colonial apprenticeship, we 
may say that it was true to its English prototype in two 

* See Record of Indentures of Individuals Bound Out as Apprentices 
in Philadelphia, Penn., 1771, 1773, p. 21325. 

■See Abott, Edith, Women in Industry, pp. 13-171. 

• See N. Y . Historical Society Collection, vols, xviii and xlii. 

*Acts of Col. of Mass. Bay, vol. i, pp. 654-55. 

^ An exception should be made as regards Virginia in respect to the 
apprenticing of illegitimates, cf. Henning, Statutes, vol. viii, p. 276. 



50 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [256 

particulars. It was a system of poor relief and a penalty 
for idleness. It differed, however, from the English system 
in that (a) the seven-year term was not as miiversal, (b) 
apprenticeship became a means of acquiring a liberal educa- 
tion, (c) practically all apprenticeship regulations were 
administered, not by guilds,^ but by the town and county 
officers. 

In appraising apprenticeship, we must be on our guard 
against wrapping it in the vague glamour of the past. The 
close filial relationship of master and apprentice, the cer- 
tainty of a trade, the supervision over morals and educa- 
tion, have all excited encomiums that are more enthusiastic 
than critical, and many novels have praised the idyllic con- 
ditions of the " prentice-boy." ^ 

The dark side of the shield has been seen less readily. 
The apprentice did not work solely at his trade, but was also 
compelled to assist with the family '' chores." Often he 
worked at jobs that bore no relation to the trade in which 

^ Gilds, while infrequent, were not absent in colonial handicrafts. 
See Collected Records Mass. Bay Colony, vol. iii, pp. 132-33, when in 
1648, Richard Webb, James Everill, Robert Turner, Edmund Jackson 
" and the rest of the shoemakers " were incorporated and given power 
to elect officers and to, " have power to make orders for the well gov- 
erninge of their company, in the manageing of their trad^e and all the 
aflfayres thereunto Ijclonging, and to change and reform the same as 
occasion shall require and to annex reasonable penalties for the breach 
of the same." It was provided that " any person or persons who 
shall use the art of a shoemaker or any part thereof, not beinge ap- 
proved of by any of the officers of ye sed shoemakers to be a sufficient 
workman, the s'd court shall have power to send for such persons 
and suppresse them " — This latter is a delegation to the guild of power 
to suppress or to supervise its workmanship which would naturally 
involve apprenticeship. A similar grant was made to Thomas Venner 
and others for a cooper's guild' " for preventing abuses in theire 
trade," ibid., p. 133. For the part played by English gilds in the enforce- 
ment of the Statute of Apprentices, see Dunlop and Eknman, English 
Apprenticeship and Child Laborer, pp. 75-81. 

'Especially those of Elijah Kellocrg. 



257] -'^PPR^^'TICESHIP PRIOR TO FACTORY PERIOD 51 

he was supposed to be trained. In order to be a black- 
smith's apprentice, he had to hoe his master's garden. In 
order to master the '' mysteries " of metal work, he had to 
take care of the stock — the horses and the cattle, assist in 
the weaving, and help out at harvest time. In a word, 
he was " hired man " as well as apprentice. His work at 
these household tasks was a complete waste of time so far 
as learning a trade was concerned. 

Another real fault of the old apprenticeship system was 
that the period of apprenticeship was too long. The rough 
handicraft trades of that day could ordinarily be mastered 
in much less than seven or even five years. This extra 
period constituted an exploitation of the boy, for we must 
remember that the apprentice earned no wages, being sup- 
posed to be paid for his labor by the trade instruction he 
received. If he learned the trade before his period of 
service expired, this added labor was an outlay for which 
bare maintenance did not compensate. If this lengthy term 
of service was an injustice to the average boy, it was cer- 
tainly a particular cause for grievance to the superior 
boy. It did not matter whether he learned quickly or not, 
he must serve the same term in any case. The inelasticity 
of the indenture could but incite dissatisfaction among the 
more capable apprentices and engender a tendency to 
" soldier " since there were not any rewards for skill and. 
ability.^ 

It is not true, however, that the long term of apprentice- 
ship was made hazardous by inventions, which obviated 
processes in which boys had been working for years and 
made unnecessary their accumulated experience. Inven- 
tions were few in the colonial handicraft period. Industr\^ 
passed on from one generation to another in almost identical 
form. 

' Cf. on this point Testimony of Carrol D. Wright. Report of 
Industrial Commission, vol. vii, p. 18. 



^2 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [25S- 

Doubtless also many of the masters were men of the sort 
who abused the confidence reposed in them, and many in- 
justices and cruelties were practiced which the isolation of 
the court, the looseness of government, and the scantiness 
of the records obscure. 

The good features of apprenticeship were, however, real. 
The state supervised the training of the child until he came 
to maturity. The master was compelled to teach the 
apprentice his trade, to give him the rudiments of a liberal 
education, and to impart sound morals. Neglect to perform 
any of these tasks entitled either a fine or the loss of the 
apprentice.^ The whole youth of the child in industry, not 
merely his working day, was supervised and directed. 

This system continued practically unchanged through the 
turmoil of the American Revolution, and indeed wherever 
hand production prevailed, well down into the 19th Century. 

*For instances of enforcement see, Ma^s. Coll. Records, rol. tii, 
p. 310. 



CHAPTER III 
The Decline of Apprenticeship in the Machine Era 

/. The Development of the Factory System. 

It is difficult to fix a definite date for the advent of the 
American Industrial Revolution. The transition from a 
hand to a machine basis and from the domestic and the 
" putting out sysltemi " to the factory system, is necessarily 
a slow and long-drawn-out process. It progresses more 
swiftly in some industries and in some sections of the 
country than in others. The cotton and woolen indus- 
tries were in the factory stage long before shoe-mak- 
ing and brewing.^ The South, with the exception of 
such cities as Atlanta, remained on a handicraft basis 
long after the Civil War, and the frontier of course 
indefinitely longer. Even now there are hamlets off the 
beaten track of communication in which life goes on much 
as in the days before the machine. 

It might be said that the opening of Slater's cotton mill 
in 1794 marks the initial step of the movement. But the 
manufactures of that day, as shown by Hamilton's re- 
ports, were comparatively few and cumbrously managed.^ 
It was not until the Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts, 
followed by the war of 18 12, that there came, in some lines, 

* Cf. Blanche E. Hazard, " The Organization of the Boot and Shoe 
Industry in Mass. before 1875," Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 
xxvii, pp. 237-262. Also J. R. Commons, "American Shoe Makers, 
1848- 1895," ibid., vol. xxiv, pp. 39-85. For the brewing industry see 
Schliiter, History of the Brewing Industry and Brewery Workers 
Organisation, pp. 24-85. 

' Hamilton's Report on Manufactures in State Papers on the Tariif 
(edited by Taussig), pp. 79-107. 

259] 53 



54 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [2f>o 

the necessity as well as the opportunity of providing for 
home needs by domestic industry. Manufactures of cotton 
and wool, and a few other staples, were established by the 
conclusion of the war, and fostered by a series of tariffs 
beginning in 1816. But certainly down to the twenties 
the major part of our industries were s'till organized essen- 
tially as they had been during the colonial period. " The 
master worked side by side with his journey-man and his 
apprentice, and was not sharply distinguished from them 
by either his earnings or his social position." ^ It was not 
until the booming industry of the 20's and the 30's and the 
springing up of such -mill towns as Pawtucket, Lowell and 
Lawrence, that America experienced her first taste of the 
real factory system. The suddenness of the change is in- 
dicated by the chorus of protests in the late twenties. That 
period witnessed for the first time regularly organized work- 
ingmen's parties, a labor press, and such well-known leaders 
as Fanny Wrighit, Robert Dale Owen, the Evans brothers, 
and Seth Luther. But while the movement of the twenties 
was very real and while the factory system steadily gained 
ground in the North, especially in Southern New England 
from 1840 to i860, it was not until after the Civil War that 
its period of greatest growth began. ^ 

2. Effect Upon Status of Apprentices 
The effects of the industrial revolution upon children 
should be most carefully noted. It is quite clear that it de- 
based the conditions of the children in industry in two ways : 
— (a) It divested apprenticeship proper of its educational 
features both trade and civic, (b) it added children to in- 

*E. L. Bogart, Economic History of the United States 2nd. ed., p. 253. 

2 See P. W. Bidwell, " Population Growth in Southern New England, 
1810-1860," Publications American Statistical Association, vol. xv, pp. 
813-39. For the state of manufactures prior to i860 see Victor S. Clark, 
History of Manufactures in the United States. 



26l] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 35 

<iustry who were not even nominally apprentices at all, but 
merely child laborers. Apprenticeship and child labor had 
been synonymous terms; they now became separate and 
distinct. 

If the ordinary craftsman was deeply affected by the sub- 
stitution of power-<:lriven machinery for his hand-tools, 
much more deeply and more subtly was the apprentice. For 
him it meant a revolutionizing not cvnly of his methods of 
work but of his entire social status as well, both at home 
and in the shop. 

His home had formerly been at his masters. He had 
lived and worked familiarly with him, receiving his board 
and clothing in return for his services. Now, with the 
growth of industr}^, the master could no longer house all 
of his apprentices. He had to let them find their own 
shelter, and commute their former benefits into a cash allow- 
ance. The apprentice thus found himself a wage-earner, 
with greater freedom, greater opportunity, and greater 
danger as his lot. 

Within the shop the change was equally great. The 
master was no longer literally a '' master-workman," in 
close personal touch with each boy. The very nature of 
machine production had fixed a gulf between the two. The 
tasks of the employer were becoming more and more ex- 
clusively those of the business man, his immediate concern 
was buying and marketing rather than craftsmanship. Hi;^ 
contact with his apprentices grew rapidly infre^iuent and 
impersonal. In brief, master and apprentice had stood in 
the relation of father and son; they now stood in the relation 
of employer and employee. 

The training the apprentice received changed no less than 
his station. Machine production does not require the all- 
round skilled workman because it increases the division of 
labor and splits a trade into many different jobs. There 



^6 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [262 

is less opportunity to exercise generall skill should it 
be acquired, and the mastery of the whole gamut of 
machines within a trade beconiies well-nigh impossible. 
One man, one machine is the rule. Apprenticeship accord- 
ingly became specialized. 

The purely cultural training of the apprentice fared of 
course even worse. The master who did not see him from 
one week's end to the other could hardly be expected to 
teach him his letters or his catechism. Accordingly we 
find the period of the early Industrial Revolution from 18 10 
to 1830 characterized by a rapid rise in day-schools. The 
earliest schools in Pennsylvania were for the pauper child- 
ren who could no longer get cultural training from their 
employer. Is it a mere coincidence, then, that the wide- 
spread development of secular Sunday schools where work- 
ing children could be taught the rude elements of readings 
writing, etc., coincided with the rise of the new impersonal 
factory system? In the same period, to serve as a sub- 
stitute for the loss of the personal touch, came the founding 
of societies for the improvement of apprentices and the 
establishment of libraries for their education.^ 

J. Child Labor Under the Factory System 

The new system, however, not only divested apprentice- 
ship of its educational and personal opportunities, but it 
brought into industry large numbers of children who were 
set at routine jobs under conditions that were often ex- 
ceedingly bad. 

In the cotton and woolen mills, women and children 
furnished the majority of the operatives. Tench Coxe, 
Hamilton, Niles, Clay and Mathew Carey advanced as one 
of their chief arguments for the protective tariff, the fact 

^ Such as the Apprentices Free Library in Philadelphia. 



263] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 5- 

that manufaxztures could be run by the surplus labor of 
women and children who would otherwise be idle. Even 
Gallatin in his Free Trade Memorial of 183 1, admitted that 
protection mi^ht be justified on this count/ The general 
reasoning involved was very simple. Puritan morality had 
regarded idleness as a sin and had forced chilren to work 
at an early age. At first it therefore welcomed the wider 
opportunities of manufacture, since if it was proper for 
women and children to be kept busy in the handicrafts and 
agriculture, it was also proper that they should work in the. 
mills. 

Statistics are scanty for this early period, but the Digest 
of Manufactures in the Census of 1820 gives complete 
statistics for the textile mills of Massachusetts, Rhode Island 
and Connecticut. In Massachusetts boys and girls consti- 
tuted 43% of the laboring force, in Connecticut 45% and 
in Rhode Island 55%. What age-group is included under 
the headino^ ''boys" and ''girls" is not specified, but it 
probably, comprised those under 16. The Friends of 
American Industry in 1832 said that there were 3472 child- 
ren under 12 years working in the cotton mtills of Rhode 
Island, or 40% of the entire force. According to the re- 
port of their committee, child labor under 12 in this in- 
dustry was non-existent in Virginia, Maryland, Maine, 
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, and existed but 
slightly in Vermont. New Hampshire, Connecticut, New 
York, and New Jersey. Miss Ofcey has shown that this 
was not so and that children were often employed where it 
was claimed that they were not." 

The hours of work in these mills were generally from 

'"Free Trade Memorial of 1831." (Taussig, State Papers and 
Speeches on the Tariff, p. 129). 

2 Otey, " Beginnings of Child Labor Legislation in Certain States,*^ 
▼ol. vi of the Report on Conditions of Woman and Child Wage-earners. 



_58 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [264 

sunup to sundown. Manufacture, in other words, had 
taken over the working day of the handicrafts, ignoring the 
newer and more severe strains imposed by machinery and 
the bad conditions of heat, light and ventilation. 

Nor was corporal punishment of the child worker un- 
known. Seth Luther gives instances of such cruelty as 
the use of the whip, the breaking of a girl's leg by throwing 
a stick of wood at her, and hitting a child over the head 
with a board. ^ In Pennsylvania conditions were especially 
bad. In 1870, an overseer testified that the Rhode Island 
overseers generally used a strap w'ith tacks inserted with 
which to punish the children employed ^ while in Massachu- 
setts, whipping persisted even as late as 1870." 

Apprenticeship had paved the way for mucii of this 
juvenile labor. A child was expected to work. When a 
father contracted to furnish the labor of his children to a 
manufacturer, he was but carrying out a precedent which 
apprenticeship had furnished. 

There were two systems of hiring labor : the family and 
the boarding-house system. Under the first, the manufac- 
turer contracted for the services of a family. By the 
second, he secured the services of individuals who were to 
board at company houses. Children were included in the 
first class, but not in the second, as their board would be 
too expensive to justify hiring. The family system pre- 
vailed chiefly in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and the middle 
and southern states, while the boarding-house system was 
characteristic of the Northern tier of the New England 
states, including Massachusetts.* 

'Seth Luther, Address to the Workingmen of New England, p. 20; 
and Penn. Sen. Journal, 1837-8, vol. ii. 

' Report of Mass. Bureau of Labor 1870, p. 107. 

^ Ibid., Report 1S71, p. 489. 

* Edith Abbott, Women in Industry, pp. 338-340. 



^65] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 59 

Nevertheless, the introduction of the factory system in 
America did not produce as grave abuses as in England, 
(a) In the first place, the number of pauper children under 
public control here was small. While it would be wrong 
to say that we had no Poor Law System, since a number of 
pauper children were apprenticed to factories in Baltimore, 
New York and Connecticut,^ their importance was compara- 
tively slight, (b) Secondly, the development of the West 
gave an opportunity for the working population to migrate. 
This in turn compelled the manufacturer to offer better con- 
ditions in order to retain his working force.^ In England 
the conditions had been exactly the opposite, the enclosures 
driving the population from the country into the manufac- 
turing towns and there producing a glut of labor, (c) 
Finally, the natural spirit of the American people was more 
independent. The American child was not so amenable to 
the restrictions of apprenticeship as was his English cousin. 
Slater tried in vain to introduce the English system of ap- 
prenticeship into his cotton mills. The reaction of the 
American temperament is well shown by the boy who 
advised his rebellious friend, " Well, cut up like the devil, 
and Slater will let you off."'^ 

i;See Niles Register, vol. xv, p. 419 (1819) ; Bagnall, History of the 
Textile Industry in the U. S., vol. i, p. 185; Orcutt, History of the Old 
Town of Derby, Connecticut, p. 45. Orcutt mentions a mill which em- 
ployed JZ apprentices hired from neighboring almshousees. In New 
York City in 1839, 349 pauper children were apprenticed — chiefly to 
mechanics and tradesmen. See Homer Folks^ Care of Dependent, 
Defective and Delinquent Children, p. 41. 

'Though absolute free land did not exist till the passage of the 
Homestead Act in 1862, yet the western movement of population was 
tremendous and this depleted the labor force in the east. For influence 
of the frontier, see F. J. Turner, Rise of the New West, pp. 10-134 
and The Significance of the Frontier in American History. Report of 
American Historical Association, 1898. 

'A reminiscence of Samuel Slater by his son, quoted by Weeden, 
Economic and Social History of New England, vol. ii, p. 913- 



6o INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [266 

4. Use of Apprentices as Cheap Labor 
The introduction of machines precipitated an endless 
quarrel between employer and workmen over the number of 
apprentices that should be employed. Industry could now 
be carried on with the majority of the workers doing 
specialized tasks and with a minimum of all-round crafts- 
men. It was early complained that manufacturers were 
taking large numbers of boys into their service, promising 
to teach them the whole trade, but in reality teaching them 
only one or two processes. It was cheaper to hire these 
boys than regular journeymen, as their wages were 
small. Full-fledged journeymen were in consequence dis- 
placed by these " learners," who, upon terminating their 
apprenticeship, would demand journeyman's wages. They 
Avere incapable of doing all-round skilled work because 
their training had been so specialized that they did not 
know the trade. Even had they been more skillful, a fresh 
crop of boys would have been cheaper to the employer. 

Such a process could but produce a constantly increasing 
nuin;ber of half -trained men who were thrown out of em- 
ployment by a fresh batch about to go through the mill from 
which they had just emerged. Many apprentices, moreover, 
would run away before they had finished their term and 
would pass themselves off as journeymen. The workmen 
felt therefore that restriction of some sort was necessary. 
This could be accomplished in two ways: (a) By limiting 
the number of apprentices at any one time in proportion to 
the number of journeymen; (b) by lengthening their cus- 
tomary term of service — thus decreasing their rate of trans- 
formation into journeymen. 

A letter to the Mechanics Free Press in 1828, stated that 
" there are many men in this city ( Philadelphia) who have 
from fifteen to twenty apprentices, who never, or very 
seldom, have a journeyman in their shops but ... as one 



267] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 61 

apprentice becomes free, another is taken up to fill the ranks 
The boys are unable to find work after their apprentice- 
ship, as they have ceased to be of value, as the manufacturers 
only want apprentices. A hat manufacturer was asked 
how he could sell hats at such a low price. He answered 
* By using apprentices.' " 

As early as 181 1, the New York Typographical Society 
complained of the overstocking of the trade with appren- 
tices and the consequent forcing out of full-fledged journey- 
men.^ In 1 83 1, a reorganization of the Society was af- 
fected, and in the constitution of the new association it 
is declared, " the practice of runaway or dismissed appren- 
tices working for small compensation has proved a great 
pest to the profession. By the poor training which is given 
to them, many who have spent three to seven years of the 
flower of their lives in acquiring a knowledge of their pro- 
fessions are left without employment, or obliged to resort 
to some business with which they are unacquainted, and 
thus serve a second apprenticeship." ^ General Duff 
Green, the printer for the national government, dismissed 
many journeymen from his shop and hired in their stead 
fifty boys. He proposed to institute a school to train 200 
boys and to educate them by their own labor. Through this 
use of apprenticeship he aimed to do away with the journey- 
men who were attempting to control the trade. The few 
men that he did have working for him received only two- 
thirds of the pay of journeymen,^ There is little doubt 

* Letter signed Candidus, Mechanics Free Press, Nov. 29, 1825, quoted 
in Commons — Documentary History of American Industrial Society, 
vol. iii, p. 70. 

'N. Y. Bureau of Labor Statistics 191 1, History of Typographic^^ 
Union No. 6, p. 69. 

« Ihid., p. 108. 

^Ibid., pp. IQ2-I03. 



62 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [268 

that more men were trained in the printing trades than 
could find employmient.^ The residue were forced to travel 
about for positions — hence the historic figure of the tramp 
printer. 

The coachmakers also complained that their profession 
was overcrowded with cheap apprentices.^ The shoe-makers 
had similar grievances. \ Lynn, Mass, union speaks of 
" the injurious practice of taking apprentices for a few 
weeks or months, letting them make one part of a shoe, and 
then turning them out so-called shoemakers, thereby multi- 
plying poor workmen and filling our market with miserable 
goods." * The ciganmlakers also suffered from this surplus 
of apprentices. Overcrowding existed as well in the black- 
smiths' and machinists' trades.* 

5. Attempts hy Unions to Regulate Apprenticeship 

Labor's belief in the *' right to a trade," and the desire of 
the workmen to lessen competition, though much weaker here 
than in England, may well have played a part in the general 
opposition to the use of apprentices. In the main, how- 
ever, the opposition was based upon the plain fact that these 
boys who were hired in large numbers, were used merely as 
a substitute for adult labor. 

The desire to regulate apprenticeship was indeed one of 
the prime causes for the creation and growth of our early 
trade-unions. By 1806 the Philadelphia Cordwainers were 
regulating apprenticeship and requiring all apprentices to join 

^For instance the printers of Charleston, S. C. in i860 objected to 
the use of apprentice labor in competition with that of journeymen on 
the part of Col. Cunningham, editor of the Charlestown Evening News. 
Snovvden, Notes on Labor organisation in South Carolina 1742-1861^ 
pp. 30-32. 

' Commons, Doc. Hist, of American Industrial Society, vol. vi, p. 167. 

^ Ibid., vol. viii, p. 232. 

*J. M. Motley, Apprenticeship in American Trade Unions, p. 26. 



269] APPRENTICESHIP h\ MACHINE ERA 63, 

the union upon the termination of their services. In 1836, 
the National Typographers' Convention resolved that '' cvtry 
beginner shall serve until he is 21, at the time of entering 
he shall not be more than 15, and every boy taken as ap- 
prentice shall be bound to the employer in due form of 
law." ^ The apprentice was to be taught all the trade pro- 
cesses, not merely one or two. In 1838, a second convention 
was held which lowered the length of apprenticeship to five 
years. This was the prescribed time till 1869, when it was 
made 4 years. 

While the workingmen's movement of the late 20*s and 
the early 30's started as a political imovement, it crystallized 
after a few years in the form of a number of organizations 
existing principally for the purpose of collective bargaining. 
In these scattered unions regulations concerning appren- 
ticeship were common. The Troy coachmakers, for in- 
stance, enacted that only one apprentice should be hired for 
every four journeymen."'^ 

The International Typographical Union in 1850 declared 
that the regulation of apprentices was one of its most im- 
portant purposes.^ The National Association of Hat 
Finishers which was organized in 1854 had as its basic 
purpose the limitation of apprentices.* The Iron Molders' 
Union of North America was directly caused by the excess 
of apprentices.^ Since the average in some sections was 
two apprentices to one journeyman, the union was anxious 
to prevent overcrowding of its lalx>r market. The consti- 

*N. Y. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 191 1 — History of Typographicai 
Union No. 6, p. 156. 

'Commons, op. cit, vol. vi, p. 167. 

' Tenth Census of United States, vol. xx, " Report on Trade Societies." 

*Ibid., p. 10. 

* See Third Report of California Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1887-88,, 
pp. 215-16. 



^4 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [270 

tution of the National Builders' Union stated that " one of 
the objects is to devise and suggest plans for the preserva- 
tion of mechanical skill through a more complete and prac- 
tical apprenticeship system." ^ 

It was the control of apprenticeship that was the para- 
mount reason for the organization of the Green Glass 
Blowers in 1857, ^"^ for their reorganization in 1866.^ So 
also with the German-American Typographical Union, the 
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the Painters and 
Decorators Union ^ and the union of shoe-makers known as 
the Knights of St. Crispin.* 

With the Civil War, the question of apprenticeship be- 
came even more serious. Military life withdrew so many 
men from industry that a free use of apprentice labor 
seemed absolutely necessar}^ Manufacturers, moreover, 
fostered it as the one ready means of staving off a wage 
increase.^ The expansion of the factory system following 
the civil war brought with it an increased division of labor 
and specialization of tasks. All-round apprenticeship con- 
sequently became still less common : boys were kept at 
specific operations and not taught the trade as a whole. This 
inevitable development caused a fresh outburst of protests 
from the workmen. 

Thus the Chicago Conference of Working Men in 1867 
passed resolutions declaring that " a great difficulty exists 
in many mechanical branches from their being over-stocked 

* Founded in 1887. For discussion see G. C. Sikes, "Apprenticeship 
in the Building Trades," Jourttal Political Economy, vol. ii, pp. 397 ff. 

*New Jersey Bureau of Statistics of Labor and Industries, 1887, 
pp. 77-84. 
*Ibid., pp. 89-94. 

* See Don D. Lescohier, The Knights of St. Crispin. 

'Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions During the Civil War, 
pp. 187-88. 



271] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 65 

with apprentices and as the time has come when the ap- 
prentice system is being more extensively used to the detri- 
ment of those who have spent years in making themselves 
proficient in their different trades." ^ The unions in certain 
trades, moreover, continued sporadically to protest against 
alleged abuses of the apprentice system and against an ex- 
cess amount of juvenile labor. For a long time after the 
Civil War the Iron-moulders comtplained that the trade was 
suffering from a surfeit of half-trained apprentices or 
*' berkshires " as they were called; in many plants it was 
stated that there were as many as four apprentices to one 
journeyman." Other trades to complain froui time to time 
of being overcrowded with apprentices and learners were 
the leather workers," the bakers* (1885), the table-knife 
grinders,^ the wall-paper workers,^ the gold-beaters in 
Philadelphia ; ' the plumbers and printers in New York ^^ 
(1885), the cigar-makers, '^ the carpenters in Chicago,^*^ and 
the musicians ^^ (1890-96). 

The employers verbally at least stood out for the 
right to hire an unlimited number of apprentices. The 
attitude which the employers generally assumed is well 

^Documentary History of American Industrial Society, vol. ix, p. 192. 

* Iron Moulders Journal, August, 1896, p, i. 
^Leather Workers Journal, 1904, pp. 521-22. 

* American Federationist, S^pt., 1912, p. 597. 
^Ihid., p. 561. 

^ Ibid., Sept., 1903, p. 847. 

" Ibid., Sept., 1903, p. 897. 

^Fourth Annual Report N. Y. Bureau of Labor Statistics (1886), pp. 
1 13-16. 

^Motley, Apprenticeship in American Trade Unions, p. 23. 

^° The Carpenter, vol. xxx, no. 5, May, 1910, pp. 9 ff. 

" Owen Miller in the American Federationist, November, 1912, pp. 
871, et seq. Also John R. Commons, " The Musicians of New York 
and St. Louis," Quarterly Journal of Economises, vol. xx, pp. 419-22. 



55 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [272 

illustrated by a statement of an .Vlbany moulding firm 
to the employees whami they had locked out: " We claim 
the right to employ any such number of boys as we may 
find advantageous, and also expect each molder to employ! 
a helper," ' The pamphlet went on to say that some west- 
ern firms encouraged the journeymen to have " four, five, 
six or even seven helpers apiece." - The helpers were to 
do the heavy work and enable the molders to earn $8 to $10 
a day. The fact that these same helpers would later menace 
the journeyman's job was not mentioned. 

The unions sought to regulate apprenticeship both, (a) 
by legislative enactment and (b) by trade-union regulation. 
The movement for state legislation to control apprentice- 
ship began in the late 6o's and reached its climax in 1870-71. 
Thus the Chicago Conference of Workingmen in 1867 re- 
solved " that it is the opinion of this body that it is highly 
important that the legislatures of each state should use their 
influence to secure such laws as will protect employers, ap- 
prentices, and journeymen." The unions O'f machinists, 
blacksmiths, stovemolders, shoemakers, cigar-makers, prin- 
ters, brick-layers, plasterers, and stone-cutters all made 
similar demands, including a definite time limit and the limi- 
tation of numbers, while the machinists, blacksmiths, and 
stove-molders advocated state legislation, as well. 

The labor movement of the 6o's accordingly tried to 
effect the full legal recrudescence of apprenticeship. It 
advocated in general (a) that the apprenticeship period 
.should be not less than 5 years; (b) that the number of 
apprentices be strictly limited, (c) that the employer be 
compelled to teach his apprentices the whole trade, not 
merely specialized parts of it; (d) that the employer should 

* Perry, J. S., Some Considerations Presented to the Molders Lately 
Employed by Perry & Co., Albany, N. Y., p 7- 
*Ibid. 



273] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 67 

be responsible as formerly for his apprentices' moral educa- 
tion, (e) that a legal system of indenturing be re-established. 

6. The New York Apprenticeship Law and its Enforcement 

As a result of this agitation, Massachusetts, Illinois and 
New York actually passed apprenticeship laws, while similar 
measures were nearly enacted in Pennsylvania and Ohio. 
The New York law of 1871 provided: ^ (i) A written in- 
denture must be drawn up and signed by both parties be- 
fore an apprentice could be taken. (2) This indenture 
must be based upon the following terms: (a) the term of 
apprenticeship was to be not less than three and not more 
than five years : (b) the employer must provide the appren- 
tice with suitable board, lodging and medical attention; (c) 
the employer must teach or have the apprentice taught 
''every branch of his or their business;" (d) the employer 
must give the apprentice a certificate upotn the satisfactory 
conclusion of his service. (3) Penalties for violation of 
indentures: (a) On the part O'f the apprentice. — If the ap- 
prentice would not try to learn his trade or serve faithfully, 
he was to forfeit his back pay and the indenture would be 
cancelled. If he ran away before his term of service ex- 
pired, he was liable to a jail sentence; (b) On the part of 
the employer. — If the employer did not care for the ap- 
prentice suitably according to the terms of the indenture 
and the provisions of the law% he could be sued by the' ap- 
prentice or by his parents. If it could be shown that the 
employer had neglected his duty, the court was to cancel 
the indenture and impose a fine of not less than $100 and 
not more than $1000, which was to be paid to the apprentice 
or to his parent or guardian. 

1 For text of the Act see Laws of New York, 94th Session, vol. ii, 
pp. 2147-2150, chapter 934. For recommendation for apprentice legis- 
lation see Message of Governor Hoffman in Messages of the Governors 
(Lincoln edit.), vol. vi, p. 123. 



63 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [274 

It will be noticed that the act did not attempt to limit the 
nnmiber of apprentices although in other respects it em- 
bodied the demands of the unions. As, however, it de- 
pended for its enforcement upon the complaint of the 
parties interested to the courts, it was seldom enforced 
at all and did not better the situation. In 1888 the 
enforcement of the Act of 1871 was made a duty of 
the factory inspectors,^ but their work in this direction 
was almost fatall}^ crippled by an opinion in that }'ear 
by the Statei Attorney-General. He ruled that the law did 
not apply in the case of a minor for whom there was no 
written indenture binding the employer to teach the youth 
a trade. The opinion read in part as follows : " " It does 
not appear that this act was intended tO' affect the right of 
a parent or guardian to procure general employment for a 
minor. Minors might be employed for the purpose of 
learning the art or mystery of a trade without having 
attaclied to them all the incidents connected with apprcn- 
ticeship." This definition therefore not only excluded the 
general mass of juvenile labor, but even drew a distinction 
between learning a trade and apprenticeship, and declared 
that the former was not proof of the latter. 

This ruling made the law almost impossible to enforce, 
for as the factory inspectors stated : " In but few instances 
would the employer acknowledge thalt he employed his 
minors as apprentices to teach them a trade, but almost in- 
variably asserted that he employed them " generally " or in 
sub-divisions of the trade in which thdy were most apt or 
familiar.* 

* Chapter 437, Laws of 1888, see also Seventh Annual Report of the 
Factory Inspectors, pp. 52-54. 

' See Fourth Annual Report Factory Inspectors, Assembly Documents 
113th Session, vol. iii, pp. 33-42 (1890). 
' Ibid., p. 36. 



275J APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 69 

It is significant to note that no demand for enforcement 
of the law was made to the factory inspectors by labor 
unions, parents, minors or employers, and few cases came 
up under it. The laws in the other states met the similar 
fate of non-enforcement and became virtually dead-let- 
ters. 

7. The NationalizatiGn of Trade Union Restrictions upon 

A pprenticeship 

Contemporaneous with the attempt to regulate appren- 
ticeship by legislation went the attempt to regulate it by 
trade-union enactment and collective bargaining. At first the 
formulation of the niles governing apprenticeship was left 
largely to the local unions. This of course proved inade- 
quate. A national problem could not be regulated by the 
uncoordinated rules of local bodies. In those cities where 
the unions were weak or non-existent, large numbers of ap- 
prentices or juvenile workers could be employed and taught 
only a fraction of their trade. Many of these, upon com- 
pleting their service and failing to secure a journeyman's 
position, would go to other cities and menace the position of 
union workmen there. Often, moreover, a weak union would 
prefer to admit men as full-fledged journeymen even though 
they had served no apprenticeship, believing that these men 
menaced them less inside the organization than without.^ 
These entrants could then gO' to other cities, present their 
union card, and be treated as master workmen. Impotent 
as the locals proved to be, the national bodies were neverthe- 
less slow in shouldering the responsibility for regulation.* 
As late as 1890, only seventeen of forty-eight trades unionsi^ 
comprising i6j<^% of the total membership, regulated or 

1 The unions of Louisville, Kentucky, followed this policy, see Leather 
Workers Journal, April, 1904, pp. 521-22. 

'See T. W. Glocker, The Government of American Trade Unions, 
pp. 35-36. 



yo INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [276 

attempted to regulate apprenticeship through their national 
bodies. Ten had general policies of restriction but surren- 
dered to the local unions the power to enact the concrete re- 
gulations and to enforce them while tw^enty-one made no 
mention of apprenticeship whatsoever/ By 1904, how- 
ever, as Professor Motley jx^ints out in his able monograph, 
70 out of 120 national unions, comprising 900,000 memb- 
ers cut of a total of 1,675,000, had enacted apprentice- 
ship regulations. This means an increase in 14 years from 
i6>^%to54%.' 

8. The Effect of Trade Union Restrictions 
This much vexed question of apprenticeship regulation 
was however wellnigh negligible as a cause of strikes. From 
1881 to 1886 inclusive, strikes affected as many as 22,300 

^See E. W. Bemis, "Relation of Trades Unions to Apprentices," 
Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. vi, pp. 76-93. 

'^Interesting features of apprenticeship are the age of entrance and 
the wage as compared with that of a full fledged worker. The age of 
entrance varied. A New Jersey study shows the trades with an early 
entrance and those with a comparatively later age of entrance. Report 
New Jersey Bureau of Statistics of Labor and Industries, 1891, pp. 185-186. 

Those having a comparatively small per cent of their numbers who 
began their apprenticeship before 16 were: 

Plumbers Z-^% Painters 117% 

Bricklayers & Masons . . . 6.6% Potters (Kilnmen) 18.8% 

Glass Blowers Printers 30.0% 

a. Green bottle 10.0% Carpenters 18.8% 

b. Flint 12.6% Hat Makers 28.0% 

c. Window 2.7% 

The following statistics from Ohio for 1885 {Report of Ohio Bureau 
of Labor Statistics 1885, pp. 45-47), indicate the relative wage which the 
apprentice received in comparison with the journeyman. 

Trades Av. yearly zvage Av. yearly wage Per cent Apprentice 
of Journeyman of Apprentice to Journeyman wage 

Iron Molders $49761 %2^2.z(> 46.6% 

Cigar-Makers .... $4i3-59 $i4^-55 344% 

Typographers .... $623.68 $154-85 24.8% 

The wage of the apprentice ranged then from one-quarter to one-half 
that of the journeyman. 



2nf^ APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA ji 

establishments, yet in only 213 or about 1% of the total, was 
the question of apprenticeship paramount. In the period 
of 1885^1893 there were strikes involving over 22,000 
establishments, of which only 161 or less than 1% were 
caused by disputes over apprenticeship/ 

As a cause of lockouts, apprenticeship restrictions were 
of course much more prominent. From 1881 to 1886, 
2214 establishments locked out their employees and ^ in 
169 or y.yfo of these cases, opposition to union restriction 
of apprentices was assigned as the principal cause. 167 of 
these cases occurred in the single year of 1886. 

The opposition to apprenticeship regulations found ex- 
pression in the claim that they " prevented the American 
boy from learning a trade." It was alleged that the unions, 
by limiting the number of apprentices, deprived boys of the 
opportunity of becoming skilled workers. A Boston paper 
voiced this view when it said, " A liberal apprenticeship 
will do as much as anything else to put a wholesome 
restraint upon trade-union tyranny and to make the 
mechanic arts again desirable and serviceable to the sons 
of American citizens." ^ Exponents of this view have been 
both numerous and insistent.'^ A confusion of ideas, how- 
ever, lies at the bottom of it. It assumes that an increase 
of apprentices is all that is needed to teach boys a trade, 
that mere numbers will ensure training. It ignores the 
fact that just because of the former surplus of apprentice 
labor, boys were not taught the whole trade, but only a few 
detailed processes. The more boys there are free to enter 

^ Report of Bureau of Labor Statistics of Minn., pp. 312-314. 

^Ibid., p. 316. 

^Boston Journal, July 15, 1890. 

*In the decade 19001910, Mr. Anthony Ittner, chairman of the com- 
mittee on Industrial Education of the National Association of Manufac- 
turers, became the chief defender of the so-called "American Boy." 



^2 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION ' [278 

a trade, the less incentive the manufacturer is likely to feel 
to give any one of them a thorough training. 

In an}^ case, however, the actual burden of restriction ap- 
pears to have been very slight. In the first place the unions 
were relatively weak. Moreover, had they really pre- 
vented boys from learning a trade in those industries in 
which they were strong, we should at least expect to find 
that both boys and employers would take advantage of 
what opportunities remained to them. If, for instance, 
the allotted ratio was one apprentice to four journeymen, we 
should expect to find at least that, proportion of apprentices 
actually at work. As a m.atter of fact, taking the country 
as a whole, there were not as many apprentices as the unions 
allowed. 

Apprenticeship therefore decayed primarily because of 
other forces than trade union regulation. As early as 
1869, a Massachusetts investigation showed that emiployersi 
were realizing that it was unprofitable for them to employ 
apprentices. FortN^-six out of fifty-twO' employers stated 
that they had served an apprenticeship in their business, 
but only tAventy-seven were now employing apprentices. 
Only 19 believed apprenticeship to be valuable.^ A Phila- 
delphia study of the following year shows that there were 
but 3,500 apprentices in 8,000 establishments in that city 
with a total working force Oif 92,000 men.^ This was a 
ratio of approximately one apprentice to tweny-five 
journeymien, a number not sufficient tO' keep a trade alive 
were apprenticeship the sole means of recruiting workers. 
A comparison of the number of apprentices to joume^Tnen 
permitted by eight national unions with the number actually 

^Report of Committee of Massachusetts Charitable Association, 
" Relation of Apprentices of their Employers," pp. 2>-6. 

* Whitney, James, Apprenticeship, 1872 (published in the Philadelphi-a 
Social Science Series), pp. 12-13. 



279] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 73 

employed in Massachusetts in 1890 shows some interesting 
results. ^ 

Name of Union Ratio of Apprentices to Actual Ratio 

Journeymen {union in Mass. 

regulation) 

1. Pattern Makers Union i to 4 i to 48 

2. Journeymen Tailors Union i to i i to 12 

3. Silk & Fur Hat Trimmers i to 10 i to 288 

4. Wood Carvers Association i to 5 i to 25.5 

5. Form Makers Union i to a shop and 

I extra for every 8 i to 51 

6. Typographical i to 5 i to 9 

7. Carpenters i to 6 i to 62 

8. Plumbers i to 4 i to 44 

In Ohio, however, there was apparently no such paucity of 
apprentices. In 1884, an investigation^ of 74 plants in the 
machinists, molders, iblacksmiths, wood-carvers, pattern- 
makers, coopers, cigar-makers, carpenters, brick-masons 
and compositors trades showed a total of 275 apprentices 
to 1385 journeymen or a ratio of i to 5. The case 
of the cigarmakers, typographers, and iron-molders was 
even more striking. In the cigar industry there were 609 
apprentices and 809 journeymen, or a ratio of i to 1%; 
in the iron molders there were 521 apprentices and 145 1 
journeymen or a ratio of i to 3; in the typographical 
plants there were 211 apprentices and 791 journeymen or 
a ratio of i to 3^4. Here quite evidently the trades unions 
did not effectively restrict opportunities to learn the trade, 
for the number employed was far in excess of the number 
set by the union. 

p. The Decline of Apprenticeship 
Taking industry throughout the country as the standard 
however, apprenticeship was rapidly decreasing in impor- 

^Bemis, E. W., "Relation of Trades Union to Apprentices," Quarterly 
Journal of Economics, vol. vi, pp. 83-84. 
^Report of Ohio Bureau of Statistics of Labor 1884, p. 261. 



74 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [280 

tance. The Census statistics show a steady dedine in the 
ratio of apprentices in the manufacturing industries as a 
whole. ^ 

Year Number of Total number Employed in Ratio 

Apprentices Manufacturing and Mining 

i860 55.326 1,850,034 I to 33 

1880 44,170 3,837,112 ito87 

1890 82,057 5,091,293 I to 62 

1900 81,603 7,112,987 I to 88 

1910 1 18,964 1 1,623,605 I to 98 

The figures for 1870 are wortliless. In the census although 
apprentices were counted as a special class, they were enum- 
erated under their particular trade without definition. 
AVhile it is possible that there were som'C apprenitices who 
w^ere not listed as such by the Census, it is probable that 
their number was not appreciable. 

An apparent paradox now confronts us. If the number 
of apprentices was actually decreasing, why did so many 
of the unions still insist that their trades were being over- 
crowded with apprentices? The answer is twofold: In 
(he first place, though tlie general decline in the number of 
apprentices was genuine, overcrowding did still exist locally 
in some trades, such as plumbing, cigar-making, and typo- 
graphy. 

In the second place, v;e must remember that " apprentice- 
ship " was a term often employed loosely by the unions to 
designate juvenile labor. Boy labor. was on the increase, 
and the laboring men were really enveighing against this 
when they spoke of apprentices. The old idea was that no 
child should be in industry unless he was actually learning 
a trade. When the numbers of employed children wore 

^ 8th Census, i860, pp. 565-677. lOth Census, 1S80, vol. i, " Population," 
p. 746. nth Census, 1890, vol. iii, p. 397. 12th Census, 1900, vol. ii, pp. 
566-7 (this includes helpers as well, so number of Apprentices was 
probably less). 13th Census, 19 10, vol. iv, p. 91. 



2Si] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 75 

observed, it was thought that they must be in this class. 
And when it was discovered that they were not being 
taught as appremtices should be, the cry was immiediately 
raised that apprenticeship was being abused. The fact was 
not clearly grasped that a new class of workers was being 
created: namely, children who were valued for their im- 
mediate labor, not for their ultimate productivity. 

During the eighties unio'ns sought recourse again in legis- 
lative enactment. The Federation of Organized Trades 
and Labor Unions, the precursor to the American Federation 
of Labor, at its inception in 1881 resolved as one of its 
fundamental principles " that necessity demands the enact- 
ment of uniform apprentice laws throughout the cotmtry: 
that the apprentice to a mechanical trade may be made to 
serve a sufficient term of apprenticeship from three to five 
years, and that he be provided by his employer with pro^ 
per and sufficient facilities to finish him as a competent 
workman." ^ Laws which should regulate the term of 
ser'/ice and the conditions oif employment and compel the 
master to teach the whole trade, were specifically advocated 
both in California and New York.^ The states, however, 
refused to take action. 

The manufacturers of the day were not particularly con- 
cerned with the fact that the decadence of apprenticeship 
had destroyed the only means of recruiting skilled workers. 
Down to 1885, the country had not seriously faced the pro- 
blem of machine technology, even though manufacturing was 
becoming predominant. Though plunged into large scale 
production, America retained the ideas of handicraft and 
agriculture. Unconsciously, however, American industry 

1 Report of First Annual Session of the Federation of Organised 
Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada, p. 3. 

' See Fourth Annual Report of Statistics of Labor, pp. 197-203. 
California Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1887-88, pp. 94-97. 



76 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [282 

was taking that turn which now renders it characteristically 
American. High wages plus an abundance of raw materials 
forced the manufacturers to resort to quantitive, mass pro- 
duction. Qualitive standards of workmanship were im- 
possible in the face of the high wage schedules. The 
machine process became more automatic, the subdivision of 
labor more ex'tended, the workmen more nearly reduced toi 
the status of machine tenders. All-round trade training 
ceased to be necessary'- for many. 

One of the theories advanced for this lack of interest 
upon the part of the employers is that we were then recruit- 
ing our skilled workers from abroad and therefore did not 
need to train them at home. Many of the contemporary 
pamphleteers were of this opinion.^ The theory explains 
the awakening of interest in industrial education during 
the decade which followed 1900 by the fact that the '' new " 
immigration from southeastern Europe was far more un- 
skilled than the " old " immigration from northwestern 
Europe and that in consequence, the United States was com- 
pelled to recruit her skilled workmen from her own popula- 
tion. 

Though this view is endorsed by practically all recent 
works on immigration," it is not borne out by a careful 
statistical study of immigration in the two periods. Thusi 
skilled laborers formed but 11.5 per cent of the total im- 
migration into the country for the period 1871-82 inclusive? 
while 15.0% Oif the tdtal immigration for the yeiars 1899- 

1 See James Whitney, Apprenticeship, Philadelphia, 1872, Mr. J. S. 
Perry, Some Considerations Presented to the Holders lately Employed 
by Perry & Co., p. 7. 

2 Jenks and Lauck, The Immigration Problem, p. 31, express the 
orthodox view. Hourwich, I. A., Immigration and Labor, pp. 67-68, 
dissents from this. His book is in general so polemic and so permeated 
with the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy that his views on this point 
have not received the attention that they merit. 



283] APPRENTICESHIP IK MACHINE ERA y-j 

J910 i'liclusive were skilled/'^ If we eliminate all these with- 
out occupations (chiefly women and children), the percent- 
age of skilled of those with occupations in the early period 
w^as 23.2 and 20.3 in the later period. When the immigra- 
tion from. Nor^thwestem Europe and from Southeastern 
Europe is compared for the respective periods when each was 
dominant, it will be seen that immigrants from North- 
western Europe in the 70's and early 8o's were as unskilled 
as the immigrants from Southeasrtem Europe in the decades 
preceding and following 1900. Popular confusion has 
arisen on this point because the two immigrations wxre com- 
pared by the Immigration Coimlnission for the same period 
of time (1899- 1 910), w'hen they should have been compared 
for the periods w'hen each was in turn dominanit.^ 

It should not be inferred from the foregoing discussion 
that apprenticeship is, as so many have claimed, dead. As 
we shall see, many plants have apprenticeship systems to 
train high-grade mechanics, but in general the system can be 

said to be declining as industry becomes more and more 
« 

1 The statistics for 1871-82 were compiled from the Annual Reports 
of the Bureau of Commerce and Navigation. Those for 1899-1910 were 
taken from Report of United States hnmigration Commission, vol. i. 
p. 100. The definition of skilled has been made coterminous for the two 
periods. See my article, " Is the New Immigration more Unskilled than 
the Old"? Quarterly Publications American Statistical Association, 
June, 1919, esp. pp. 396-97- 

2 In my article, " Is the New Immigration more Unskilled than the 
Old," op. cit., pp. 393-403, I have pointed out the fallacy of the Immi- 
gration Commission and Messrs. Jenks & Lauck in drawing conclusions 
as to the relative skill of the "new" and the "old" immigration on the 
basis of a comparison for the same period. These terms should in- 
clude (i) a space relationship to differentiate between the peoples of 
Northwestern and Southeastern Europe but also (2) a time relationship 
to compare the immigration of one period with a previous one. The 
article shows that if the immigration from Northwestern Europe for 
1871-82 is compared with that of Southeastern Europe for 1899-1910, it 
will be seen that it did not possess a larger number of skilled workmen, 
if indeed it possessed as many. 



78 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [284 

specialized and automatic. It is not at present of great actual 
importance as a method of trade training. 

70. The Recrudescence of Apprenticeship in Wisconsin 

As the author has pointed out elsewhere/ despite this 
general decline, the apprenticeship system in Wisconsin 
has, during the last few years, shown unmistakeable 
signs of growth. The industrial education law of 191 1 
began the regulation of apprenticeship by prescribing that 
eviery apprentice should receive not less than five hours a 
week of instruction in English, citizenship, business practise, 
physiolog>% hygiene, the use of safety devices, and such 
other branches as might be approved by the state board of 
industrial education. This law also provided for the regis- 
tration of all apprenticeship indentures. 

In 191 5, the apprenticeship laws were amended so that 
they included: (i) Comipulsory indenture. Every appren- 
ticeship contract was to be made in writing and a copy filed 
with the state industrial commission. (2) Time for instruc- 
tion m the continuation school. A minimum of five hours 
a week was required to be devoted to instruction and the 
employers were required to pay the apprentice for this time. 
(3) Ricgulation of hours and wagies. Every indenture was 
to state the number of hours to be spent in work. Not 
more than fifty-'five hours a week (including instruction) 
\^'as, however, permissible. Apprentices over eighteen 
years could work overtime not to exceed thirty hours a 
month, and were to receive for this one and one half ordin- 
ary wag-e rates. (4) Specification of the particular pro- 
cesses to be taught the workmen and the approximate 
time to be spent on each. (5) Supervision and direction 
of the system by the state industrial commission. The 

^ " The Recrudescence of Apprenticeship in Wisconsin,"' School and 
Society, vol, vii, pp. 22-23, Jan. 5, 1918. 



285] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 79 

commission was given the power to classify trade and in- 
dustries; to construct and supervise the contracts, and to 
act as the mediator for differences between apprentices and 
employers. 

The commission was wise enough to create a state ap- 
prenticeship board to administer the act, composed of re- 
presentatives of the employers, of the unions, and of the 
state continuation schools). Perhaps most important of 
all was the appointment of a full-time supervisor of ap- 
prentices who was also to act as the secretary oi the board. 

The board has succeeded in enlisting the confidence and 
cooperation O'f both employers and employees. Its most 
important accomplishment has been the formation of pro- 
per standards of apprenticeship in different trades and 
industries. Under the old relation of apprenticeship, the 
duties of apprentice and master were loosely defined. With 
the coming of the machine era, it becamie impossible to 
determine what processes must be taught the apprentice and 
what might be omitted. The clear definition of what is to 
be included under apprentice training removes much 
ambiguity and its attendant opportunity for abuse. 

The board has also worked out a uniform indenture 
blank and has issued diplomas to boys who have successfully 
completed their apprenticeship. These measunes help both 
in standardizing conditions and in offering an incentive 
for the apprentices to do their best and to complete their 
apprenticeship. 

Statistics show that the results of this system have been 
most satisfactory. Under the law of 191 1, the following 
number of apprentice contracts were entered into: 191 2, 
142; 1913, 260; 1914, 220, and 1915, 163. The 1915 law 
first became fully operative for the year 19 16, and in that 
year a total number of 468 new contracts were filed. This 
was an increase over the previous year of approximately 



8o INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [286 

200 per cent, and an increase of 80 per cent, over the highest 
mark in the four previous years. The distribution, by 
trades and locahties, of the total number of apprentices is 
very interesting. Five hundred and sixty-six, or 58 per 
cent., of the 969 apprentices registered, were in the machinist 
trade; 121, or an additional 12 per cent., were pattern- 
makers. The number of apprentices in such trades as tool- 
making, carpentering, plastering and painting was very 
meager. Seven hundred and forty-four, or yy per cent, of 
the total for the state, w^ere concentrated in Milwaukee. 
The number of supervised apprentices has steadily grown 
until it now includes several thousand. Wisconsin, however, 
is the only state to show such a development. 

II. Causes for the Decline of Apprenticeship 
Why has this system of apprenticeship once so prevalent, 
now decayed ? For two main reasons : ( i ) Because there 
is no longer the need for as large a proportion of skilled 
workers in industry as formerly. The development of 
machiner}^ and the fast increasing specialization of labor has 
rendered it unnecessary for the vast majority of factory 
operatives to know more than one, or at most a few, pro- 
cesses. Only a fcAV need to have the all-round knowledge 
formerly required and which apprenticeship was designed 
to give. The very reason for apprenticeship, in its former 
sense of a thorough mastery of a trade, is thus largely re- 
moved.^ (2) Because it has come to be thought unprofitable 
by individual employers, workmen, parents, and the boys 
themselves to train even those all-round workmen that are 
needed. 

^ It should not be inferred that this removes the necessity for train- 
ing. Not only is some training required for the specific occupations 
but the broader civic, intellectual, and moral functions of apprenticeship 
need, not only to be carried out in the modern situation, but to be 
improved. 



287] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 81 

(a) First, apprenticeship was unprofitable to the indivi- 
dual manufacturer. To his mind it confused the function of 
the shop with that of the school. The apprentice's aim was to 
learn as much as possible : the employer's aim was to produce 
as cheaply as possible. These two ideas are generally anta- 
gonistic. The manufacturer under competitive conditions 
must run, his machines at the highest possible efficiency. 
That cannot be accomplished by transferring a worker as 
soon as he has mastered any given process. The initial ex- 
pense of " breaking in " a man or boy is too^ great for that. 
Once the employee has mastered the workings of a particular 
machine, it is more profitable for the employer to keep him 
•there than to move him on. This means that the appren- 
tice is not taught the whole process, but merely a specializ^ed 
part. His position is divested of its trade educational 
features. While ostensibly an apprentice, he is actually a 
mere worker devoid of training. 

Apprenticeship is moreover rendered still more unprofit- 
able for the employer by the fact that once he has trained 
an apprentice, there is no- guarantee that he can permanently 
enjoy his services. The apprentice costs more at first 
because of the disarrangement of the plant, time spent in 
training, and spoiled products. While learning he is gener- 
ally unprofitable. The only opportunity for the employer 
to recoup is to enjoy his increased productivity when he is 
once trained. Once the apprentice is trained, however, 
other firms who did not go to the expense O'f teaching the 
boys themselves can hire him away. The first employer 
cannot afford to pay as high wages as the second, because 
he already has more invested in the boy, for which he must 
gtt a return. A premium is thereby placed upon not train- 
ing apprentices. Firms rely upon stealing rather than 
training hands. Though it would be a benefit to the m- 



82 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [288 

d^istry as a zvhole tO' have a supply of well-trained appren- 
tices, to the individual Urnh it usually spells a loss.^ 

(b) In the second place the workmen already in the shop 
dislikes apprenticeship. The boy is his potential rival. He 
is afraid that the learner may ultimately supplant him. Irt 
consequence, he does not show him all of the tricks of the 
trade. Painters' apprentices say that it is practically im- 
possible to get a master who will teach them thoroughly. 
" Let the kid pick it up for himself " is the general sentiment 
towards the novice. 

Every moment the workman spends in teaching the ap- 
prentice moreover is a momjent withdrawn from his own 
task. He is valued by his employer as a producer, not as 
a teacher of others. Furthermore, machinery, unlike 
hand- work is not susceptible of interruption; it demands: 
constant attention, and there is little leisure in which to in- 
struct one's neighbor. This concentration upon the im- 
mediate machine and its product is especially intense where 
piece-work is the rule. Here a direct pecuniary loss will 
follow any attention to others. In the clothing trades, 
where piece-work prevails, the novice is given but little 
instruction, although she may be operating dangerous high- 
power machines. 

Finally, even if the workman should be willing to give 
instruction, he is generally incapable of doing so. He has 
little all-round training himself and his trade knowledge is 
generally confined to but a few operations. Nor is the fore- 
man much better adapted to act as a teacher. His chief func- 
tion is to speed up the operatives. He is not necessarily a 
highly-skilled workman himself, and he tends to be hostile 
or at best indifferent to an operative primarily learning 

1 This is merely another instance of the falsity of the laissez-faire 
doctrine that each man by pursuing his own interest thereby pursues the 
interest of the whole. 



289] APPRENTICESHIP IN MACHINE ERA 83 

rather than producing. Indeed the whole spirit of the 
modern work-shop is unfriendly to the conception of it as 
a place for the development of skilled craftsmen. Skill is 
a matter of time, and modern production is in a hurry. 

(c) Nor is apprenticeship a system that finds favor with 
many parents. The amibitious among them are discouraged 
by the uncertainty of the training offered ; and what is more 
important, the poor are held back by the financial sacrifice 
it involves. To apprentice a boy instead of setting him 
to work means a veiy considerable immediate loss in wages. 
That this loss will be more than made up in the future is 
small comfort wheii the present is heavy with want. The 
superior initial wage of the unskilled worker looms large in 
such cases, and it is only the unusual parent who will stand 
out against it. 

(d) Finally, even the boy himself is hostile to apprentice- 
ship. Like his parents, he sees the larger wage which the un^ 
skilled worker gets. He does not see that this wage will not 
increase. Moreover he relishes his independence. He does 
not wish to bind himself legally or even verbally for a pre- 
scribed period of time. He is restless and wishes to 
change. The prospect stretching out before him of years 
of steady work at one industry bores him sadly. 

Apprenticeship, moreover, presents itself as an opening 
into the manual trades alone. It spells overalls and 
greasy hands. These are associated in his mind with 
foreign labor and the jokes of his schoolfellows. Ten to 
one he prefers the social prestige of any sort of " clean- 
collar " occupation, so he becomes errand-boy, messenger- 
boy, office-boy, — and skilled craftsmanship goes by the 
board. ^ 

1 For descriptions and accounts of the causes for the downfall of the 
apprenticeship system, see: Mass. Committee on Relationship of Ap- 
prentices to Employers (1869), pp. 7-11. Sykes, G. C, "Old and New. 



34 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [290 

To the extent therefore that the decHne in apprenticeship 
has been due to faiilt}^ organization and to indifference, the 
Wisconsin method offers hope for a rehabilitation of the 
old system. To the extent, however, that it has been caused 
by the inevitable specialization of the machine era and by the 
individualistic conduct of industry, it presents no real 
remedy. 

Conditions of Apprenticeship in the Buildings Trades," Journal PoL 
Econ., vol. ii, pp. 408 ff, Wright, Bulletin Bureau of Education, 1908, 
no. 6, pp. 84-86. Stevens, G. A., " Influence of Trade Education upon 
Wages," Journal of Pol. Econ., vol. xix, pp. 19-24. Weyl and Sakolsky, 
■"Conditions of Entrance to the Principal Trades," Bull. Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, no. 67. 



CHAPTER IV 
Present Conditions of Children in Industry 

For the average child of from fourteen to sixteen, school 
life is over and industrial life has begun. Whatever his 
reasons for leaving school, whether poverty or apathy to- 
wards the school itself, he has little idea what particular 
trade he wishes to follow. He does not know which occu- 
pations need boys nor which will afford him a future. He 
takes the first job that he finds, an unskilled job; works for 
some time, perhaps a few weeks or a few months ; finds that 
there is no opportunity to learn the trade, that the pay in- 
volved does not loom as large as it did at first; he is tired 
by the monotony of the task, and quits. He runs about 
the streets and casually looks for another position. After 
a while he finds it. It is another unskilled job. He works 
a short time at this task, and then leaves it as he did the 
first. And so he drifts from job to job, from industry to 
industry, still unskilled, and exposed to all the social and 
industrial evils which threaten adolescence. Once grown, 
he is crowded out of his job forever by another younger 
crop of workers, and finds himself one of the class of the 
permanently unskilled with the attendant low wages and 
unemployment of his class. He had nothing to sell but his 
youth ; he sold it, and received nothing in return. 

I. Early age at which children leave school. Children 
leave school early. How early and in what numbers it is 
not easy definitely to determine. The census figures for 
291 85 



86 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [292 

1910^ on the proportion of children in school afford one 
source of information. 

Years Number attending Percentage of total number 

school of children of that age 

11-12 1,555,301 91.2 

12-13 1,716,310 89.8 

13-14 1,574,253 88.8 

14-15 1,501,456 81.2 

15-16 1,175,009 6S.3 

16-17 943,511 50.6 

17-18 629,866 35.3 

It is important to notice that nearly one-third of the 15- 
year-olds and approximately one-half of the 16-year-olds 
were not in school. The National Committee on Vocational 
Education in 1914 found that there were 345,666 children 
of 14 and 546,216 children of 15, who were not attending 
school, making a total of 892,882 children, or nearly 900,000 
between 14 and 16 out of school.^ Doctor L. P. Ayres, 
after a study of 58 cities, estimated that in the United States 
250,000 children of 14 years fail of graduation from the 
grammar grades and leave school forever. He also de- 
clared that of the 200,000 children of 14 v/ho do graduate, 
a large proportion also leave school. 

Probably the most satisfactory study of all is that made 
by Professor E. L. Thorndike in 1908. His conclusions, 
for American cities of 25,000 and over, were that for 
every 100 entering pupils, the schools retained 

1 13th Census, vol. i, p. 1099. 

' Report of the C ommission on National Aid to Vocational Education. 
House Doc. 1004, 63rd Congress, 2nA Session, vol. i, p. 104. 

* Gulick and Ayres, Why 250,000 Children Leave School, Russell Sage 
Foundation, Department of Child Hygiene, Bulletin 77, p. i. 

* Bureau of Education, 1908, Bulletin No. 4, p. 11. 



293] 



CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 



87 



90 to 


grade 


4 


81 " 




5 


68 " 




6 


54 " 




7 


40 " 




8 (Usually last grammar grade) 


27 " 




1st Year High School 


17 " 




2nd " 


12 " 




3rd " 


8 " 




4th " 



On an age calculation taking as its base 100 school 
pupils at the age of eight, the school retained : ^ 



Years 

lO-II 

11-12 
12-13 
13-14 
14-15 
15-16 
16-17 
17-18 
18-19 



Per cent 
100 
98 
97 
78 
70 

47 
30 
16.5 
8.6 



Several interesting facts emerge from these statistics : 
( I ) that only 40 percent of the children finish the grammar 
school: (2) that 19% drop out in the 13th year, while only 
8% drop out in the 14th year. This seems to indicate that 
children often withdraw from school before they are legally 
allowed to do so. This is a commentary upon our method 
of enforcing school attendance, and permits us to surmise as 
to the actual enforcement of child-labor laws. (3) it is 
noticeable that only 47% of the children are still in school 
during their 15th year. During the four years from 12-15 
inclusive, an even 50% of the children leave school. 

These statistics of Thorndike for cities undoubtedly pre- 
sent a more favorable picture than would similar data from 



1 Ibid., p. 23. 



88 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [294 

the country districts. These latter, the draft statistics have 
shown to give inferior educational opportunities/ 

Criticism of the statistical method which Thorndike fol- 
lowed has been offered,^ but similar investigations have 
tended rather to confirm than to disprove Thorndike' s in- 
vestigation. Thus, Dr. George D. Strayer after compiling in 
191 1 the school censuses of 318 cities, declared that " in our 
cities considerably more than half of the children are 
eliminated between the ages of 13 and 15 inclusive."" 

From these statistics it is safe to conclude (a) that there 
are approximately 1,100,000 children from 13 to 16 who 
have left school permanently, (b) that the school mortality 
during these years is at least 50% of those who began, 
school before 13, (c) that only 40% of the children ever 
finish the grammar grades, (d) that approximately only 8% 
finish their high school education.* It is quite possible that 
this latter percentage is now so^mewhat higher and may in- 
crease still more. 

2. Reasons for leaving school. Why do these children 
leave school and go to work? This is not easy to deter- 
mine because the reasons assigned both by parents and by 

^ Thus 21 per cent of the white men and 51 per cent of the negroes in 
the national army were illiterate. Henry Wembridge, The Southern 
Illiterates in the U. S. Army, School and Society, Nov. 6, 1920, p. 424. 

2L. P. Ayres, Laggards in Our Schools, pp. 66-72, 

• G. D. Strayer, Age and Grade Census of Schools and Colleges in 
the U. S., p. II, Bureau of Educ, 191 1, Bui. No. 5. 

* Interesting figures are given in Parsons, Choosing a Vocation, 1909, 
pp. 1006, on the percentage who complete their high school course. The 
enrollment in Boston High Schools was but 6% of that in the first room 
grade; in Washington 7% ; while in Philadelphia it was but 3%. Parsons 
makes the mistake however of regarding these percentages as accurate 
indications of the eHmination of school pupils. The classes that were 
then graduating from high school were in all probabihty smaller when 
they began in the primary grades than those then beginning. In other 
words, Parsons did not allow for the increase of school population in the 
intervening period. 



295] CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 89 

the children themselves are generally not the real ones. The 
parent is reluctant to admit that poverty has forced him to 
withdraw his child from school, while the child is loath to 
confess that failure in his studies has discouraged him. 
Moreover, there are generally a complex of causes which 
operate together, making it almost impossible to determine 
the exact importance of each. 

(a) The Federal Investigation into the Condition of 
Women and Child Wage-Earners, after a careful study of 
selected cases in different parts of the country, constructed 
the following table of causes '} 

Primary Causes Number Per cent 

Earnings necessary to family support 177 29.3 

Child help desired though not necessary 172 28,4 

Child's dissatisfaction with school 161 26.6 

Child's preference for work 60 9.9 

Other causes 35 5-8 

Total 606 loo.o 

The investigation chose as its criterion for deciding 
whether the labor of the child was economically necessary, 
a family income of $1.50 a week for each member of the 
family, excluding rent and the child's wages. In those fami- 
lies which had an income below this amount, the investiga- 
tion judged the child's contribution to be actually necessar}\ 
On this basis, in only 29.3% of the cases was the cause de- 
clared to be predominantly economic. 

A study conducted under the auspices of the Public 
Education Association of New York City in 191 2 by Miss 
Alice Barrows, employed the same standard of necessity, 
that had been used by the Federal Government. After 

1 Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners in the 
United States, vol. vii (Senate Document 645, 61 st Congress, 2nd Ses- 
sion^, p. 46. 



90 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [296 

studying 327 typical cases, Miss Barrows found that in only 
20%of the cases was the weekly income of the family (ex- 
clusive of child's wages) less than $1.50 per capita, and 
consequently decided that poverty was the predominant 
factor in only 20% of the cases/ 

The Douglas Commission' which in 1906 investigated 
vocational education in Massachusetts, declared that in only 
24% of the cases were the wages of the children necessary 
for the family support. 

But is not the standard set by the federal investigation 
and followed by Miss Barrows much too low? A per 
capita weekly income of $1.50 per week would total for the 
normal family of five but $7.50 per week, and if no time 
or money were lost by unemplo3^ment, accidents, or sickness, 
would thus amount to $390 for the year plus an allowance 
for rent. This latter under the most liberal estimate for 
families of that wage group could not be more than 20% 
of the family income or $97.50. This would make the 
$1.50 per week per capita allowance roughly equal $490 a 
year. 

Now this sum was plainly inadequate for the needs of a 
family of five at the time these studies were made. Chapin 
in his classic study, estimated that to maintain a physical 
existence, a family of five in New York City in 1907 re- 
quire an income of between $800 and $900 a year.^ Mrs. 
Louise B. More, in a similar, though smaller, investigation 
fixed the absolute physical minimum for a New York City 
family at $728 in 1906, but added that to make any provision 

^ Alice P. Barrows, Report of Vocational Guidance Survey, Bulletin 
No. 9, Public Education Association of the City of New York, 1912, p. 8. 

' Report of Douglas Commission on Industrial and Technical Training, 
1906, p. 92. 
' Chapin, R. C, The Standard of Living in New York City, pp. 245-248. 



297] CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 91 

for the future the family would require $8oo-$9O0/ F. 
H. Streightoff, after a detailed study in 1914 declared $876^ 
to be the minimum upon which the normal family could 
exist. In 191 5, the Bureau of Personal Service of the 
Board of Estimate and Apportionment made a minimum 
budget estimate for unskilled laborers of $845. Streightoff, 
after a very careful study, concluded that in 191 4, $772 was 
necessary for the average family of five in Buffalo, New 
York; excluding rent, the amount necessary would be $620.^ 
Kennedy in his study of the cost of living in Chicago, 
concluded that : " The minimum amount necessary to sup- 
port a family efficiently in the stock-yards district is $800 
per year, $15.40 per week." * 

The federal investigation itself, in its monograph on 
"Family Budgets of Typical Cotton. Mill Workers," fixed 
a minimum for barely physical needs for a family of five in 
Fall River, Massachusetts in 1909 at $484.41 a year and 
stated that it would require from $691 to ^7^2 to maintain 
a fair standard of life.^ The same investigation fixed 
$408 as the absolute minimum which Southern Cotton Mill 
operative could subsist upon although only $45 was allowed 
annually for rent.^ 

Some idea of the rigors of this subsistence budget for the 
South may be obtained from the following statement of the 

* More, L. B,, Wage-Earners Budgets, pp. 269-270. 

* F. H. StreightoflF, Report on Cost of Living, Fourth Annual Report 
(New York) State Factory Investigating Committee, p, 1668. 

' See F. H. Streightoff, Report on Cost of Living, Fourth Annual 
Report (New York) State Factory Investigation. 

* Kennedy, J. C. and others, Wages and Family Budgets in the Chicago 
Stock Yards District, p. 80. 

^Report on Conditions of Woman and Child Wage-Earners in the 
United States (Senate Doc. No. 645, 6ist Congress, 2nd Session), vol. 
xvi, pp. 233-45. 

^Ibid., p. 143- 



C)2 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [298 

report: " If the family live within this sum without suffer- 
ing, wisdom to properly apportion the income is necessary. 
No tobacco can be used. No newspapers can be purchased. 
The children cannot go to school,^ because there will be no 
money to buy their books. Household articles that are 
worn or destroyed cannot be replaced. The above sum pro- 
vides for neither birth or death nor any illness that de- 
mands a doctor's attention or calls for medicine. Even 
though ail these things are eliminated, if the family is not 
to suffer, the mother must be a w^oman of rare ability. She 
must know how to make her own and children's clothing; 
she must be physically able to do all of the hovisehold work, 
including the washing. And she must know enough to 
purchase with her allowance food that has the proper 
nutrition value." 

It is small wonder that the Report states" that the 
*' minimum standard of living is so low that one would ex- 
pect few families to live on it." The Report concludes that 
$600 a year is necessary to maintain a '* fair standard " in 
the South but will permit the children to attend school.^ 

From the above budgetar}^ it appears evident that the al- 
lowance made by the investigation and Miss Barrows of 
$1.50 per week per capita exclusive of rent was far too low 
even for the period 1907-12. The total yearly income was 
as we saw only $490 on this basis, and the gap betw^een it 
and the proper yearly income necessar}^ even for subsistence 
is thus seen to be very wide. 

An estimate of $2.00 per week per capita exclusive of 
rent as the " necessity line " for this period, below which 
children were forced to go tO' work, seems most conservative. 
This would be equivalent to a yearly income of $520 a year 

' Italics mine. 
' Ibid., p. 142. 
^Ibid., p. 152. 



299] CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 93 

plus rent. Again allowing 20% for rent, this would give a 
yearly income of $650. Even this income would have been 
insufficient to maintain physical efficiency in New York City, 
Chicago, Buffalo and probably in New England in this 
period, although it might have sufficed in the South. 

Adopting this new criterion of an income of $2.00 a week 
per member of the family, we find that of the 605 cases 
of children who were studied by the Federal Investigation 
that 250 or 41.3% came from families with incomes of less 
than this amount.^ Miss Atherton, in her stimulating in- 
vestigation in 19 1 3- 1 4 of employed girls in Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania showed that 44.9% of the girls between 14 
and 16 at work came from families with weekly incomes of 
less than $2.00 per capita." This was clearly insufficient 
for the year in which the study was made because prices 
had risen appreciably since 1909. 

It seems clear therefore, despite opinions to the contrary, 
that poverty was the primary cause for children leaving 
school and going to work five or more years ago. Have 
conditions changed since then and if so, in which direction ? 
Definite information is lacking since there have been no 
studies recently to determine the economic pressure forcing 
children to leave school. In June 191 8 Dr. W. F. Ogburn 
brought Chapin's budget and that of the New York State 
Factory Investigation Commission up to date by the use 
of the prices then prevailing. Dr. Ogburn found that the 
Chapin budget would have cost at that time $1390 and that 
of the Factory Commission $1360. Independent investiga- 
tions at the same time by the United States Bureau of 
Labor Statistics set the minimum of subsistence budget at 

^Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. xvii, 
p. 57. 

' Sarah Atherton, Survey of Wage-Earmng Girls Below 16 years of 
Age in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, p. 48. 



94 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [300 

$1380.^ It therefore appears that from $1350 to $1400 
was necessary ph3'sically to maintain a family of five in New 
York City in June 1918. The cost of living for ship 
builder's families increased 22.5% in New York City from 
December i, 191 7 to December i, 191 8 and 23.6% from 
December 1917 to June 1919." 

On the supposition that the increase from December i, 
]9i7 to December i, 1918 was evenly distributed, this 
would indicate an increase of 11.2% from June 1918 to 
June 1919. 

On the average, money wages of workmen have probably 
not increased as fast as the cost of living and consequently 
in general real wages have fallen although for a few groups, 
they have increased. Rubinow^ and Jones* have shown 
that from 1900 to 191 3 real wages for union workmen fell 
appreciably while from 19 13 to 191 8, according to Pro- 
fessor Irving Fisher's computations real hourly wages de- 
creased at least 20 percent.^ If poverty therefore was the 
primary cause of 40 percent of the children leaving school 
in 19 10, it is possible that it may be the primar}^ cause for an 
even larger percentage at the present day. 

(b) Even in those cases where the earnings of the 
child are not needed to maintain a ph)^sical basis for life, 
the desire on the part of both parents and child to at- 

' W. F. Ogburn, " Standard of Living as a Basis for Wage Adjust- 
ments," Proceedings Academy of Political Science, vol. viii, no. 2, 
pp. 107-108. 

^Monthly Labor Remew, September, 1919, p. 108. Using December, 
1914 as a base or 100, December, 1917 showed an index of 144.68. 
December, 1918, 177.28 and June, 1919, 179.22. 

'I. M. Rubinow, "The Recent Trend of Real Wages," American 
Economic Review, December, 1914, pp. 798-817. 

* Jones, "Real Wages in Recent Years," American Economic Review^ 
June, 1917, pp. 318-330. 

* Irving Fisher, Stabilising the Dollar, p. 56. 



301 ] CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 95 

tain a comfort level operates to force children out of 
school into industry. Dr. Ogburn placed $1760 as the 
amount necessary- tO' maintain a family in a large eastern 
city in June 191 8 on this comfort level/ and he fixed $2200 
as necessary to maintain a family of five on this level in 
August 1 919 in Washington, D. C." When we realize how 
small a percentage of workingmen's families have incomes 
of this size, some idea is gained of the economic pressure 
upon children tO' leave school. 

(c) The present system of school administration is more- 
over undoubtedly at fault. The teaching is so' dull, schol- 
astic discipline so severe, and above all the curriculum has so 
little connection with life, that the child is discouraged. If 
he is clever and ambitious, he wants to make his way in the 
real world at once; if he is dull or in ill health, he is glad 
to escape from his own apparent failure. He is apt to be- 
come either impatient or disheartened and to leave even 
when there is no pressing financial need. 

(d) The sub-normal child is especially apt to leave early. 
A fourteen-year-old boy in a class of ten-year-olds feels em- 
barrassed and wants to be with those of his own age. 
Work will allow him to do^ this, while our modem school 
does not. Quite naturally he chooses work. 

(e) Parents too are often responsible. Many who could 
afford to keep their children in school, take them out to get 
the benefit of their earnings. Many parents regard their 
children as their property and consider it obvious that 
they should either get the child's ivages or have him help at 
home.^ 

^ Ogburn, op. cit., p. 107. 

^Tentative Cost and Quantity Basis Necessary to Support Family of 
Five in Washington, D. C. in August, 1919, published by U. S. Bureau 
of Labor Statistics. 

^Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. vii, 
PP- 50-57. 



96 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATTON [302 

3. No guidance given to children. Little or no attention 
is paid by parent, child or school, to the work the child 
should take up/ " It was found that in a large number of 
cases neither the children nor the parents had any definite 
ambition. To both it seemed the natural thing for the child 
to go to work as soon as the law allowed, and as for what 
would come after that, time would show.' 

4. Children predominmitly enter unskilled and routine 
positions. The jobs that these young people under 16 get are 
almost all unskilled. They are openings that offer little or no 
possibility for future advance. The children of that age 
rarely desire to learn a trade, and seldom have the patience 
to stick to it. Their carelessness makes the manufacturer 
and craftsmen refuse to train them. There are, however, 
numerous unskilled jobs where adult labor is too expensive 
but where it is profitable to employ children. The Massachu- 
setts Commission on Industrial and Technical Education re- 
ported that " the fourteen year old child enters unskilled in- 
dustry and remains there." ^ This commission examined the 
records of 8057 children in industry between the age of 14 
and 16. It classified them on the basis of vskill required in 
their particular trade as follows : 

Character of Industry Number Percent 

Completely unskilled 35^9 43-6 

Low grade skilled (giving practically no training) 3648 45.3 

Skilled 900 II. I 

Total 8057 loo.o 

Thus only 11% or one-ninth were in industries where 
they were receiving training.* 

^The movement for vocational guidance to remedy this situation will 
be discussed in a later chapter. 

" Report on Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. vii, p. 188. 

^Report of Massachusetts Commission on Industrial and Technical 
Education, 1906, p. 57. 

*Ibid., pp. 31-34, note: The classification of industries as unskilled, 



303] CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 97 

Miss Barrows, after a study of 406 jobs held by 14-16 
year old New York children found that in 314 or yi.Z% of 
the cases, absolutely no training was given; that in 41 or 
10% of the cases there was a slight chance of *' picking up " 
training; that in 30 jobs, or 7.4%, one process was taught, 
while in only 21, or 5.2%, was any real supervision or direc- 
tion given by the employer. A Chicago investigation found 
that, of 560 boys and girls between 14 and 17 at work, only 
35, or less than 7%, were in skilled occupations where they 
received any training/ 

In Hartford, Connecticut, only 5% of the boys and girls 
at work under 16 were in skilled employments.^ As the 
Hartford report says *' The skilled trades are almost entirely 
closed to a child of that age (14-16 years). The majority 
of these children are taking up unskilled odd jobs in factories 
and stores. In the metal factories, which as a group em- 
ploy more children than any other type of factory in the 
city, the younger workers do errand and truck work, stock- 
boxing, odd jobs about the office, inspecting, assorting, as- 
low grade skilled, or skilled was based on the following principles : 
(i) Work which consisted in a repetition of a single or a few simple 
operations which one easily and quickly learned and in which one par- 
ticular operation was not coordinated with other operations was rated 
as unskilled. (2) A low grade skilled industry was said to be one where 
a good workman need not know all the operations and where the process 
did not require much skill or time to master. (3) A skilled occupation 
was listed as one that required some degree of training before it might 
be said to be mastered. (4) An unskilled occupation would be learned 
in a few hours or in a day or two. A low grade skilled occupation 
requires a few days, a highly skilled job a few months. 

Any such classification is of course not wholly capable of being applied 
as a test with surety to every job. There are always cases in the 
" twilight zone " that baffle classification. This system is as workable 
however as any that has been devised 

^ E. L. Talbert, Opportunities in School and Industry for Children of 
the Stockyards District, 1912, pp. 23-24. 

* Vocational Guidatice in Hartford, Connecticut, Report of General 
Committee, 1914, p. 5. 



gS INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [304 

sembling, light grinding, polishing, feed automatic machines, 
drilling, testing chains, foot-press work, wiring, unwiring, 
transferring, cutting out transfers and cleaning type in 
typewriter factories." ^ 

A St. Louis investigation ' using the three-fold classifi- 
cation of the Massachusetts Commission, found that of 
4,335 children, 3842 or approximately 88% entered imskilled 
occupations; such as bell and hall-boy service, cash, mes- 
senger, errand, delivery and wagon service. The most 
comprehensive survey of this question, undertaken in 
Philadelphia, examined the industrial records of 13,740 
children, and found that only 422 or 3% were in skilled 
trades." That this condition is even more strikingly true 
of girls is shown by Miss Anna Davis of Chicago,* and by 
a federal investigation in Worcester, Mass.^ 

It should be borne in mind, however, that all these 
studies, save that of the Massachusetts Commission, deal 
with city children exclusively. Conditions in the country 
communities have not as yet been analysed. Those locali- 
ties numbering less than 8000 people, contain approximately 
58% of the children from 14 to 16.^ Whether the percent- 

^Ibid., pp. 4-5. 

' E. E. Lewis, " Studies in Vocational Education/' School and Home 
Education, March, 1913, p. 249. 

'J. S. Hiatt, The Child, The School, and The Job, p. S It is probable 
that the number actually receiving training was greater than Mr. Hiatt 
indicates. In his study all children employed in factories were rated as 
imskilled. The great majority certainly are. but not all. This would 
increase the percentage of those given trade education. 

*Anne Davis, Finding Employment for Children who Leave the Grade 
Schools to go to Work, pp. 19-41. 

*Of over 700 girls who left school in Worcester, Massachusetts, during 
the years 1909-10 only 1% entered the skilled trades. Bulletin U. S. 
Bureau of Education, 1913, No. 17. "A Trade School for Girls, pp. 58-59. 

'I have computed this percentage from the raw data given in the 
Hand Book f Federal Statistics of Children (issued by the Children's 
Bureau), pt. i, pp. 9-43. 



305] CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 99 

age in skilled trades would here be as low as in the urban 
localities is doubtful. There are fewer street trades, and 
proportionately more small-scale skilled handicrafts. Even 
so, however, it seems undeniable that the vast majority of 
children are in unskilled trades.^ In Michigan, a somewhat 
typical state in its distribution of rural and urban popula- 
tion, it was found in 1910 that few children entered the 
skilled trades. 2 

5. Wages of Children are low. Since child labor is un- 
skilled, and since children have, practically speaking, no 
independent standard of living, and little or no bargaining 
power, their wages are low. The 1900 census and the 1905 
census of manufactures give only the average wage for 
children under 16, while the 1910 census fails to make any 
separate classification of children's earnings whatever. The 
relative insignificance of the average annual earnings of 
children under 16 in manufacturing establishments is 
shown by the following table. 

This shows that the wages of children at this period 
averaged only from $3.00 to $3.50 a week and were on the 
average only one-third that of men. 

*The smallest percentage of 14-16 year old children in unskilled in- 
dustries that has been disclosed by any investigation is 68% as found 
in a study of 41 children in Springfield, Illinois. See Odencrantz and 
Potter, Industrial Conditions in Springfield, Illinois, p. 127. Even 
these figures indicate an unhealthy condition while the overwhelming 
mass of evidence indicates that they are an understatement of the true 
situation. A survey of Hammond, Indiana, a town of 20,000 inhabi- 
tants, shows that of 94 boys to whom working permits were issued in 
1913-14 only 6 could be said to be in position requiring skill, and that of 
65 girls, only three were so placed. R. S. Leonard, Some Facts Con- 
cerning the People, Industries, and Schools of Hammond, pp. 37-42. 

^Report of Michigan Conunission on Industrial and Agricultural 
Education, 1910, p. 15. 



lOO 



INDUSTRIAL EDITCATTON 



[306 



Average Annual Earnings of Women and Children in Manufactur- 
ing IN 1900 and 1905 IN Relation to those of Men 1 





1900 


1905 


Class 


Ave. Annual 
Earnings 


Relative 
Wage 


Ave. Annual 
Earnings 


Relative 
Wage 


Males over 16 

Females over 16 

Children under 16.. 


$477 
271 

152 


100 
57 


$534 
298 
176 


100 
56 
33 



The Investigation into the Condition of Woman and 
Child Wa^e-Earners in 1909 showed that in the cotton in- 
dustry 29.8% of the boys and 37.4% of the girls from 14 
to 16 earned less than $4.00 per week; 56.8% of the boys 
and 58% of the girls received less than $5.00, while 76.4% 
of the boys and 76. i % of the girls received less than $6.00 
weekly.^ In the glass industry, 17% of the boys under 
16 received less than $3.00 a week; 32.4% less than $4.00 
a week; 58.6% less than $5.00; and 81.2% less than $6.00.^ 
38% of the girls in the same industry received less than 
$4.00 a week and 80% received less than $5.* 59% of the 
boys under 16 and 53% of the girls in the silk industry of 
New Jersey received less than $4.00 a week, while in 
Pennsylvania 86% of the boys and 87% of the girls fell in 
this class.^ Finally 98% of the female workers under 16 
in miscellaneous industries were found to be earning less 
than $6.00 a week. 

6. " Turnover " of juvenile labor exceedingly high. 
Not only is the typical child's job unskilled and pitiably ill- 

1 Compiled from Census Report on Manufactures, 1905, p. Ixxi. 

2 U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 175, p. 62. 
s Ibid., p. 129. 4 Jiid,^ p. 151. 

® Ibid., p. 186. « Ibid., p. 407. 



307] CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY loi 

paid, but it is extremely short-lived. The importance of 
" labor turnover " has only recently come to public notice 
in the case of adult labor ; ^ in the case of the child it is even 
more significant. In Rochester, New York, the Board of 
Education found that the boys who leave school between 14 
and 16 change their jobs every 17 weeks during their first 
year at work, or over three times a year.^ In Richmond, 
Virginia, there is apparently a much greater permanence, but 
even there children occupied on the average 1.4 jobs during 
their first year at work.^ An investigation of one thousand 
tenement children in New York who entered industry at 
fourteen, disclosed that one-third of them averaged during 
this first working year six places apiece.* Significant testi- 
mony comes from the employment records of Swift & Com- 
pany of Chicago where the average term of employment for 
boys in their service was only 3^ months.^ This is at the 
rate of three boys a half a year per position or a labor turn- 
over of 342%. In Hartford, Conn., 57 children occupied 
on the average two and a quarter jobs per year.^ 

So far as is known, Maryland is the only state which has 
anything approaching complete data on this question. By 

* See Slichter, The Turnover of Factory Labor, also an article by the 
author, " The Problem of Labor Turnover, Am. Econ. Rev., June, 1918, 
pp. 306-16. 

^ S6th Annual Report of the Board of Education, 'Rochester, N. Y., 
1913, P- 142. (A study of 696 boys.) 

^Report of Survey Committee of Richmond, p. 22, also Bull. 162, 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, p. 20, It is interesting to notice that white 
boys and negro boys change positions more frequently than white and 
negro girls, respectively; but that the whites both male and female, 
change much more frequently than the negroes. 

^ Jane Addams, The Spirit of Youth and City Streets, pp. 115-6. 

^Bulletin of the National Association of Corporation Schools, April, 
1916, p. 13. 

® Vocational Guidance in Hartford, Conn., pp. 10-12. These were 
children who had benefited by the advice of a vocational counsellor. 



I02 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [308 

a law of 191 3, not only must the child receive a permit to 
enable him to go to work, but he must apply for a new per- 
mit for every new position entered. This affords a means 
of following the working history of children under 16, the 
result is a clear picture of the transitory nature of their 
work.^ 

For the year 19 13, 6,571 children took out their initial 
permit. Since those who took out permits at some time 
during the year were counted, this figure does not represent 
6,571 '' working years." It seems safe to estimate that the 
number of '' working years " was approximately one-half 
this amotmt, or roughly 3300. This is proba^bly correct on 
the assumption that most of the permits were granted in June 
and July and for the rest distributed evenly throughout the 
year. There were issued however during the year a total 
of 10,161 permits, or additional permits to the number of 
3,590. This means that on the average the number of per- 
mits issued later during the first year of employment was 
something over 100 percent. 151 1 of these permits, or 15%, 
were issued for the third or more time. The following table 
shows the length of time that 4,132 children reported that 
they had been employed on their last job.^ 

Time Number Percentage 

Less than 2 months 2,132 51-3% 

More than 2 months 2,000 48.7% 

Total 4,132 100.0% 

Of these who worked less than 2 months at their posi- 
tion, 633 or 15.2% of the total, were employed for less than 
two weeks. 

In the two years 191 3- 14, 228 children held as many 
as 1,686 jobs.^ Twenty-one had ten or more jobs during 

'^Report of Maryland Bureau of Statistics and Information, 1914, p. 49. 
^Ibid., p. 51. *Ibid., p. 93. 



309] 



CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 



103 



this time. Of these, two had been employed at 15 different 
positions, two at sixteen, two at seventeen, and one at eigh- 
teen/ 

Indianapolis, Indiana, also requires the granting of a new 
permit upon changing a job or leaving work. The fol- 
lowing statistics for the period April 15, 191 5 to July 31, 
1 91 6 show a high juvenile temover/ 

Length of Time Children were Employed, per job in Indianapolis, 
Indiana : Duration of Terminated Permits 



Less than 



15 days 

1 month. 

2 months 

3 months 

6 months 

9 months 

I year ... 

Over one year 

Total ... 



Cumulative 
Number 



Cumulative 
Per cent 



467 


7.0 


1034 


15.8 


2043 


30.3 


3234 


48.0 


4746 


70.7 


5582 


81.7 


5982 


87.7 


728 


12.3 



6710 



lOO.O 



Thus 7% of these positions were held for less than 2 weeks, 
15% for less than a month, 30% for less than 2 months, 
48%, or practically one half, for less than three months. 

In Evansville, Indiana, 212 children from 14-16 worked 
a total of 1269 months during the year May i, 191 5 and 

*/&tJ., p. 97. 

'Adapted from figures given in Bulletin 21, Indiana State Board of 
Education, "Indianapolis Vocational Survey," vol. i, p. iiQ- These 
figures are something of an overstatement, (i) They include only 
those permits which had been terminated and were not then in force 
which numbered 2690, (2) They include vacation permits as well as per- 
mits for work during school year. The former have, necessarily, only 
a brief duration. These, however, were not many. Despite these in- 
adequacies the net result still shows a vast amount of shifting from 
position to position. 



I04 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [310 

May I, 191 6, and held during this time 379 jobs. This is 
an average length of 3.4 months per job or over 3^ jobs 
a year/ Dr. R. M. Woodbury's exhaustive study of the 
working history of 7000 Connecticut children from 14 to 
16, showed that for the boys " a position was terminated, 
on the average, every 9.6 months of actual work while for 
the girls a position was terminated, on the average for 
every 13.3 months of work." ^ The labor turnover for 
boys (on the separations basis) would be approximately 125 
percent, and for girls 90%. The boys therefore, show a 
distinctly greater tendency towards instability than the girls. 

The children, if we may believe that Maryland Report 
to be typical, seem to leave chiefly upon their own initative, 
and not because they are " fired." In 75 percent of the 
cases reported by the employers to the Maryland Board, the 
employers stated that the children left voluntarily.^ 

A detailed examination of the reasons given by the 
children as to why they left voluntarily is given below.* 

^Educational Bulletin 19, Indiana State Board of Education. Report 
of Evansinlle, Indiana Survey for Vocational Education, pp. 417-430. 
An allowance must be made in these figures covering the number of 
jobs held, not terminated. Hence, some who were at their first job 
would not leave for sometime and therefore cannot be accurately 
classed as having "held one job." 

2 R. M. Woodbury, Industrial Instability of Child Workers, Publi- 
cations Children's Bureau, No. 74, U. S. Department of Labor, p. 25, 

•Compiled from data given on page 55 of this report. 

4 (Table compiled from p. 60 of the Maryland Report.) Thus less than 
1% of the children left because they wanted to learn a trade and only 
1.6% left to go back to school. Mrs. Helen T, Wooley's investigation 
of 700 working children in Cincinnati, disclosed that 40% left their jobs 
because of economic reasons, i. e., low pay, unemployment, etc. ; 20% 
because of dissatisfaction with the work itself; 11% due to physical 
inability to continue at the work; 11% to failure of child to get along 
with fellow-workmen or to incompetence ; 9%, to home difficulties ; and 
8% because of conflict with the child labor law. See Mrs. Wooley's 
" Charting Childhood in Cincinnati," p. 5. (Reprint from Survey, Aug. 
9, 1913.) 



31 1 ] CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 105 

(a) Dissatisfaction with the position Number Position 

1. Did not like the position 66y 24.9 

2. Excessive physical demands 633 23.3 

3. Insufficient wages 599 21.9 

4. Long Hours 132 4-8 

5. Required to do other work than specified ... 68 2.4 

6. Too far from home 127 4.7 

7. No opportunity to learn a trade at work 15 4 

Total 2278 83.5 

(b) I. Personal reasons 136 4-9 

2. Temporarily employed in the country 92 3.4 

3. Needed at home 45 i-6 

4. Returned to ^school 45 i-6 

5. Miscellaneous 180 6.6 

Total 453 16.5 

Grand total 2731 loo.o 

7. Much time lost between jobs. The children do not 
find new work immediately. There is an intermediate 
period of considerable length between the old and the new 
job. The following data from Maryland illustrates this 
point.^ 

This table deserves careful analysis. While 58.6% of the 
children lost less than two weeks' time, 14.8% lost between 
2 weeks and a month, and 26.y% over a month, while 7.2% 
spent over four months between positions in idleness. A 
rough average of the time lost between positions amounts 
to approximately one month per child. 

The Chicago City Club found that over one-half of the 
23,000 children between 14 and 16 who were not in school 
in Chicago in 1909, were unemployed' If this was typical 
of conditions, it is fair to conclude that in Chicago, children 

* Compiled from data given on page 54 of the 1914 Report of Maryland 
Bureau of Statistics and Information. 

"^ A Report on Vocational Training in Chicago by a Committee of the 
City Club, p. 34. 



io6 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 
Time Idle Between Positions 



[312 



Time lost 



Less than i week .. 

1 week to 2 weeks .. 

2 weeks to i month 

1-2 months 

2-3 " 

3-4 " 

4-5 " 

5-6 •' 

6-7 " 

7-8 *' 

8-9 " 

9-10 " 

lO-II " 

11-12 '* 

Over 12 months 



Total 




lOO.O 



between 14 and 16 years work but half the time, and spend 
one of the two years in idleness. Dr. Woodbury's investi- 
gation of the 7000 Connecticut children showed that " 10.2 
percent of the total work histories of these children was 
spent in unemployment." * 

Many believe that such changing from job to job is good 
for a child, and that by trying various trades he acquires ex- 
perience ; that by learning what he cannot do, he finds what 
he can do, and that the hard school of experience teaches him 
resourcefulness. Such people approve Emerson's lauda- 
tion of the lad " who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a 
school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys 
a township, and always, like a cat, falls on his feet." When 
they speak of the advantages of changing positions, they 
are really thinking, however, of tasks under the open sky 
or beside the work-bench; of positions which develop man- 



1 Woodbury, op. cit., p. 34. 



313] CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY 107 

liness and resourcefulness, even if some of them are lack- 
ing in technical training. Such work but rarely exists to- 
day for urban or even for village boys. 

8. Summary. Today the child works largely at jobs 
that are enervating rather than energising.^ Emerson him- 
self would not have put much faith in the quality of self- 
reliance caused by carrying parcels, tending a cotton loom, 
stitching button holes, canning oysters, rolling cigarettes, and 
opening doors. A change of jobs is rarely a change upward, 
merely a change to another unskilled and routine task. 

This constant shifting causes a considerable economic loss 
to the employer. It takes time and money to " break in " 
a boy even to unskilled work. And where there are three 
or four sets a year it becomes practically burdensome. This 
in turn makes the employer refuse to admit children of this 
age to the skilled trades, and fastens them more securely 
to " blind-alley trades " as the only industrial opening for 
them. These changes, moreover, breed irresf>onsibility in the 
child himself. His thought is, " If I don't like it, I'll get 
another job.". This prevents him from looking into the 
prospects of a position before he takes it, since he feels that 
he can always leave. He consequently tends to substitute 
hindsight for foresight in choosing a position. Similarly 
discontent, rather than sober choice, causes him to choose 
new jobs. 

*This distinction between juvenile position was first made by Dean 
Hermann Schneider. See his Education for Industrial Workers, pp. 
5-17. The elements of energizing work are (a) out of doors or in well- 
ventilated work-rooms, (b) provides a well-rounded physical develop- 
ment, (c) requires continuous mental development, (d) mental alert- 
ness required for emergencies, (e) comprehensive grasp of the inter- 
dependence of occupations within an industry, (f) conditions of work 
never exactly the same, (g) work that breeds readiness for self- 
sacrifice. The elements of enervating work are (a) vitiated air, (b) 
standing in a strained position, (c) monotonous repetition of simple 
tasks, (d) hours of work so long that fatigue poisons accumulate. 



Io8 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [314 

The period of idleness between positions, which has beea 
shown to be so large, is another evil factor in the child's in- 
dustrial life. He is neither at work nor in school; he 
is industrially adrift. Unemployment for adults is bad 
enough; for children it is positively vicious. It breaks 
down habits of industry which are slowly forming, and 
exposes them to all sorts of positive dangers. Loafing 
about "waiting for something to turn-up" does not make 
strong men and women. For the city child, such idleness 
is especially dangerous.^ The **gang spirit" seizes the 
unemployed boy, and he seeks satisfaction in his group, 
generally to anti-social ends. 

Now it was the function of apprenticeship to protect 
this adolescent child. It gave him moral oversight and a 
steadiness of employment. It was a recognition by the 
state of guardianship over the child. Today with the 
breakdown of apprenticeship we allow the child to shift 
for himself. We allow him to drift into employments that 
are socially and individually harmful. We wash our hands 
of responsibility, and in consequence both the child and the 
nation suffer. 

^ Children in street trades in which the employment is irregular and 
intermittent are particularly injured by this. A study of juvenile 
delinquency of boys by the federal investigation into the conditions of 
woman and child-wage earners, shows the following occupational 
distribution : 

Trade Per cent 

Newsboys 21.83 

Errand boys 17.80 

Drivers and helpers wagons 7.30 

Messengers (telegraph, etc.) 2.39 

Bootblacks 1.77 

Peddlers 1.71 

Total 5300% 

These trades therefore furnish one-half the cases of juvenile delin- 
quency, they certainly do not contain 50% of the boy workers. See 
Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-earners, Senate Doc. 
64s, 6ist Congress, 2nd Session, vol. viii, p. 69. 



CHAPTER V 

What Education is Needed For Modern Industry 

As we have seen, the division of labor was the real des- 
troyer of apprenticeship. Industry developed so many sub- 
divisions that all-round training was both expensive and 
useless. This same obstacle confronts any scheme for in- 
dustrial education today. Many loose-thinking advocates 
of vocational education have ignored this fact and have as- 
sumed that there is a limitless demand for skilled workers. 
Such is not the case. Modem industry does not require 
a large percentage of all-round skilled workmen. The vast 
majority of jobs can be learned in the space of a few days 
or at the most, in a few weeks. 

The division of labor wthin an industry is not a conse- 
quence of machinery alone. Specialization existed in the 
days of handwork. One is apt to forget that Adam Smith 
illustrated the division of labor, with his famous example 
of pin-making, before the machine era had opened.^ The 
report of the United States Bureau of Labor- on hand 
and machine labor shows very clearly that considerable 
specialization existed even in the days of the handicraft and 
the domestic systems. The eighteenth-century watchmaker 
did not make every part of the time-piece himself. Other 
helpers and fellowcraftsmen worked on particular parts 
which were later combined. 

Machinery has, however, increased and extended the 
division of labor. The possibility of reviving apprentice- 
ship or of devising an adequate substitute for it, depends 

*Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (Cannan Edition), vol. i, pp. 6-7. 
' 13th Annual Report, U. S. Bureau of Labor, 1899, 2 vols. 

315] 109 



no INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [316 

therefore upon a number of factors. First, how great a 
degree of specialization exists today in the various indus- 
tries? Second, has this specialization, by limiting the 
number of diverse operations performed by one workman, 
increased the difficulty of the work required for a particular 
task ? Phrased more briefly, has specialization increased or 
decreased the amount of skill required ? ^ What kind of 
training is needed to fit men for modem industrial life? 

It is exceedingly difficult to generalize on this point. 
Specialization varies not only from industry to industry, 
but also from plant to plant and from locality to locality. 
The larger the plant, of course, the greater is the division of 
labor. The Ford automobile works in Detroit is an ex- 
ample of a highly specialized plant, with such an extreme 
division of labor that little or no skill is required of its work- 
ers. Another plant in the same city, however, employs skil- 
led workmen almost entirely who understand all branches of 
automobile manufacture. Country plants are generally 
smaller than urban ; consequently they do not have as great 
a division of labor. ^ Where wages are low and labor cheap, 
there is little inducement for the introduction of machinery 
and increased specialization. Due to this fact, cigarette, 
and cigar-making is far less specialized in the south than in 
the north. 

Any sweeping statement about industries would therefore 
be inadequate, and in many respects false. It is difficult 
if not impossible to establish a modal type for each industry. 
The general trend of specialization and skill is, however, 
shown by the following table. 

For the purpose of convenience, we have classified the in- 

^ It is obvious that this question is different from that which is 
commonly put; "has the division of labor decreased the amount of 
skill exercised." We are here concerned with possibilities, not merely 
with what are the present conditions. 

^Report of the Industrial Commission, 1901, vol. vii, p. 265. 



317] WHAT EDUCATION IS NEEDED 1 1 1 

dustries into three groups: (i) machine-building, (2) 
machine using, and (3) machine repairing. 

I. Machine-Building Industries 
Industry Number of different processes 

1. Plow manufacture ^ 52 

2. Car building 2 13 

3. Machinist 27 

4. Automobile 250 (Ford) 

5. Gas engine ^ 50 

In modern industry, machines produce other machines. 
Steel gives birth to steel.* The system of interchangeable 
parts necessitates standardized construction and absolute 
accuracy, and this in itself prevents machinery from being 
hand-manufactured. Large-scale production, moreover, pre- 
vails in the industry, and this in turn leads to the utiliza- 
tion of the advantages afforded by machine construction. 

In consequence there is a sharp differentiation in the 
skill required of the working force. A large number of 
highly-trained and competent engineers are needed in the 
drafting room. For the other workmen, however, muscle 
and endurance rather than skill and dexterity are required.^ 

^ 13th Annual Report, United States Bureau of Labor, 1899, vol. i,. 
p. 96. 

^Bulletin No. 163, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1914, p. 6. 

^Educational Bulletin ig, of Indiana State Board of Education, 
" Evansville Vocational Survey," pp. 265-66. " Comparatively few all- 
round machinists are employed," ibid., p. 264. 

*The evolution of American machine-making is well described in 
J. W. Roe's English and American Tool Builders, where a series of 
biographical sketches of important tool builders and their contributions 
is given. 

It is especially significant that the system of scientific management 
with its differentiation of the task, has chiefly flourished in industries 
which build machines. In 15 of these industries scientific management had 
been introduced by 1915. See Report of Committee American Society of 
Mechanical Engineers, 1912; H, B. Drury, Scientific Management, 1915, 
p. 146. C. Bertrand Thompson, " Scientific Management in Practice,"' 
Quarterly Journal of Economics (Feb., 1915), vol. xxix, pp. 256-66. 



112 



B 



C. 



D 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 
II. Machine-Using Industries 



[318 



Ifidustry 



3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 

7. 
8. 

9. 
10. 



A, Clothing and Textile Industries. 

I. Hosiery' 

2 Underwear^ 

White-goods' 

Dress and Waist* 

Gloves^ 

Collars® 

Men's Tailoring'' (coats) .... 

Corsets^ 

Cotton Goods® 

Boots and Shoes'*^ 

Wood-Working Industries. 

1. Saw-mill'^ 

2. Plaining Mill. 

a. Doors'* 

b. Sashes'^ 

3. Furniture.'* 
a. Bed-steads 

Chairs 

Lounges 

Side Boards 

Tables ^ 

Food. 

1. Meat Packing'^ 

2. Canning and Preserving'®.... 

3. Crackers'^ 

Metallic and Mineral. 

1. Pins'« 

2. Bolts" 

3. Iron-pipe'" 

4. Printing Trades'^' 

5. Cutlery" 

6. Needles'' 

Pottery'* 

Hardware'^ 

Blast Furnaces*® 

Miscellaneous. 
I. Cigarette" 

Cigar ^^ 

Carriage Making:'' 

Building Trades •^'' 

Watch Making 



Number of different processes 



7. 
8. 

9- 



2. 

3. 
4. 
5. 
6. Shipbuilding (steel) " 



47 
Z1 
23 
24 
22 
28 

39 
52 
90 
qS 

34 

21 
22 

52 
26 

34 
22 
20 

42 
23 

17 

12 

13 
22 

25 
^h 
30 
44 
133 
123 

12 

17 

120 

43-62 

80 

90 



* 13th Annual Report Bureau of Labor, vol. i, p. 53. 

^Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. xviii, 
pp. 200-201. 



319] ^^^ ^ ^^ ^^'^ ^^^^' ^-^ NEEDED 1 1 3 

Specialization in these trades is therefore minute. When 

^Bulletin No. 159, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, pp. 88-91. 

* Bulletin No. 145, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, p. 158. 

* jj//j Annual Report Bureau of Labor, 1899, vol. i, p. 50. 
From investigation at Tro}', N. Y. 

''Pope, The Clothing Industry in New York, pp. 70-71. The number 
of sub-divisions within this industry varies greatly from shop to shop 
and has since greatly increased. In one case a coat was worked upon by 
62 different persons. See Bulletin No. IS5, U. S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, p. 31. 

^Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. xviii, 
pp. 150-151. 

^ 13th Annual Report, Bureau of Labor, vol. i, pp. 220. 

^^Ihid., vol. ii, pp. 572-576. 

^^Bull. No. 1^3, "Wages and Hours in Lumber Manufacturing, Mill 
Work, and Furniture Manufacturing," Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
pp. 24-31. 

^^ 13th Annual Report Bureau of Labor, vol. ii, pp. 1364-65. 

^^Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 1385-86. 

^*Ibid., vol. i, pp. 49-50. 

^^J. R. Commons, Trade Unionism and Labor Problems, p. 226. 

^^ 13th Annual Report, U. S. Bureau of Labor, vol. ii, pp. 1064-65. 

^''Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. xviii, 
pp. 167-172. 

^^Ibid., vol. xviii, pp. 222-224. In the pin-making industry the effect 
of machinery has been to reduce the number of operation. The number 
of different workmen has been reduced and specialization consequently 
lessened. Most of the 12 operations cited are concerned with the 
marketing rather than with the manufacturing of pins. 

^^ 13th Annual Report, Bureau of Labor, vol. ii, p. 1214. 

^^Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 1229-1231. 

^^ Bulletin No. 162, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1914. "Vocational 
Education Survey of Richmond, Va.," pp. 106-140. 

'"13th Annual Report, U. S. Bureau of Labor, vol. ii. pp. 981-83. 

^^ Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. xviii, 
pp. 224-225. 

** Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Report on the Pottery 
Industry (Dept. of Commerce, Miscell. Series 21), p. 385. 



114 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [320 

it has been carried to great length, skill is not a requisite. 
Steel mills ^ and shoe factories, where the division of labor 
has been widely extended, employ few trained operatives. 
The silk, cotton, and worsted industries have also reduced the 
quality of labor needed to run their machines to simple auto- 
matic operations.' Collars are manufactured by automatic 
processes for which unskilled labor suffices ; while the cloth- 
ing trades are manned by employees who, with the exception 
of the cutters, are specialized and unskilled.'^ Hosiery, un- 
derwear and corset factories are also characterized by a pre- 
dominance of routine work requiring little or no technical 

"^^ Report OYi Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. xviii, 
p. 183. 

"^^ Report on Conditions of Labor in Iron and Steel Industry, Senate 
Doc. no, 62nd Congress, ist Session, vol. i, pp. 19-23. 

"^"^ Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. xviii, 
pp. 79-55. 

^^Ibid., pp. 89-102. 

^^ Bulletin No. ig, Indiana State Board of Education, " Evansville 
Vocational Survey," pp. 396-99. 

^'^ Bulletin No. 124, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Conciliation 
and Arbitration in the Building Trades of Greater N. Y.", pp. 27-28. 

*^ Shipyard Occupations, published by Emergency Fleet Corporation, 
1918. 

^Report on Conditions of Labor in the Iron and Steel Industry, 
Senate Doc. no, 62nd Congress, ist Session, vol. i, p. xvii. "Great as 
is the proportion of unskilled labor in the iron and steel industry, the 
tendency of recent years has been constantly toward the reduction of 
the number of highly skilled men employed and the establishment of 
the general wage upon the basis of common, unskilled labor. Each 
year sees a larger use of mechanical appHances which unskilled labor is 
usually competent to control." 

^For a keen and thorough analysis of the process of manufacture of 
these goods see F. W. Taussig, Some Aspects of the Tariff Question, 
see pp. 229-233, 272-276, 456. 

•For description of sub-divisions see, Bulletin 135, U. S. Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, pp. 31-36. 



32 1 ] WHA T ED UCA TION IS NEEDED 1 1 5 

skill/ Wood-working plants have similarly witnessed the 
rapid extension of the machine process : whereas formerly 
furniture factories employed all-round cabinet makers, to- 
day such an artisan is the exception rather than the rule. In 
practically all operations, untrained workers are said to be as 
competent as trained.^ The manufacture of food articles has 
also undergone specialization. Meat-packing is of course a 
notorious example, while the milling industry is conducted 
by automatic machinery, and all employees save the grinders 
and bolters are absolutely unskilled.'^ The baking trades are 
tending to become more and more concentrated in larger 
plants with a consequent greater division of labor. Thus 
92% of the employees in cracker factories are unskilled.* 
Canning and preserving, is also a variety of work that 
demands little training. 

Similar conditions of specialization prevail in the manu- 
facture of hardware.^ Pin and needle manufacturing 
plants likewise require little skill from their employees. An 
exception to the general tendency must be noticed in the 
case of the pottery industr}% for although this industry is 
sub-divided into 44 occupations, only 38% of its workers 
are said to be unskilled.® The tobacco trades have become 

^Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. xviii^ 
p. 197, An exception to this rule must be noted in the case of the so- 
called " Full-fashioned " knitting machines which demand highly 
skilled operations. 

^ Bulletin A^o. 129, U. S. Bureau of Statistics, " Wages and Hours in 
the Lumber, Mill-work, and Furniture Industries, 1890-1912, p, 135. 

3 National Society Promotion Industrial Education, Bulletin 21, Report 
of the Minneapolis Survey for Vocational Education, pp. 321-23, 

^Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. xviii, 
p. 165. 

''Ibid., p. 182. 

• Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Report on the Pottery 
Industry (Dept. of Commerce, Miscellaneous Series, no. 21, p. 242). 



Il6 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [322 

more rotitinized with every passing year. Skill has largely 
ceased to be necessary, and a monotonous repetition of 
simple movements characterizes nearly every stage/ The 
building trades have lost much of their former skill because 
of the invasion of their field by mill work. Sashes, blinds, 
doors, mantles, stair material and the like are now made, 
not by hand but by machinery in factories. In consequence 
a carpenter does not need to be as adept as formerly. More- 
over in large construction the tendency is to sub-divide the 
task and confine the work of the skilled men to specific opera- 
tions, w^hile utilizing lower-grade labor for the remaining." 
The wartime experience of the Emergency Fleet Corpora- 
tion in training workmen for the shipyard trades furnishes 
interesting proof of how little time is required to master the 
main principles of a modern trade. Training courses were 
established in seventy-one yards under the direction of the 
Fleet Corporation. The men who were thus taught trades 
were drawn principally from unskilled work and from 
manufacturing. When the learners left their training course 
they were able in the main to hold their own with ex- 
perienced journeymen, while in certain cases they even ex- 
celled the journeymen in the latter part of their training 
period. Yet the average training period for all men in the 
seventy-one yards for which statistics were available, was 
only nineteen days! A detailed summary by trades is 
given below : 

^Bulletin No. 162, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vocational Edu- 
cation Survey of Richmond, Va., pp. 278-279. Also Bulletin No. ig, of 
Indiana State Board of Education, " Evansville Vocational Survey." 
pp. 205-211. 

^F. B. Gilbreth's accomplishments in bricklaying where he attained a 
large output by training low-skilled men to perform most of the pre- 
liminary motions by which skilled bricklayers were enabled to devote 
themselves exclusively to the laying itself, is but a logical conclusion to 
a tendency that has been steadily developing. 



3^31 



WHAT EDUCATION IS NEEDED 



11/ 



Length of Training Period for Twenty Trades in Twenty-one 
Yards, Covering 9,700 Men^ 



Trade 



Riveters... 
Holders-on 
Heaters .... 
Ship fitters 
Chippers ... 
Drillers .... 
Reamers .. 

Bolters 

Linermen . 
Erectors ... 



Average 
Days 

for Each 
Trade 



28 

14 
10 

51 
28 

13 
12 
10 
8 
20 



Trade 



Machinists 

Pipe fitters 

Regulators 

Gas welders 

Electric welders 

Burners 

Punchmen 

Ship carpenters. 
Hand caulkers .. 
Tank testers .... 



Averas^e 
Days 

for Each 
Trade 



39 
39 
12 

30 

28 

23 
21 

48 
34 
Z2> 



J. Machine Repairing 

It is here that skill is required. To repair one part of a 
machine requires a knowledge of the whole mechanism. 
Modern industry has made repair work a trade in itself. 
The man who runs the machine does not know how to put 
it into working order. This is left to a separate force. 
These men must be thoroughly competent, for a variety 
of problems face them every day. They must have more 
all-round skill than the old craftsman ever dreamed of. 

In both cotton and woolen mills, the loom fixer is the 
most skilled worker in the plant.^ In saw mills it is the 
filer or repair man who is the most important employee.® 
The United Shoe Machinery Company repairs the machines 

1 Table taken from P. H. Douglas and F. E. Wolfe, " Labor Adminis- 
tration in the Shipbuilding Industry During the War," "II" Journal 
Political Economy, May, 1919, p. 379 (vol. xxvii.) 

^The loom-fixer on the average has supervision over 85 automatic 
looms. Bulletm U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics A^o. 143, pp. 19-24. 

3 Ibid., Bulletin No. 1^3, " Wages and Hours of Labor in the Lumber, 
Mill- Work, and Furniture Industries," p. 30. 



ii8 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



[324 



which it has leased to shoe factories, and maintains a staff 
of highly skilled mechanics for this service. This has the 
dual effect of tightening the monopoly of the company and 
lessening the amount of skill required in the factory force. 
The telephone industry requires a large corps of skilled 
electricians who can make rapid yet accurate repairs. 
Railroad repair shops must have experts able to detect the 
trouble with damaged engines and possessed with the skill 
to repair them/ 

The predominance of skill in the repair end of industry 
is shown by the fact that in the corporation schools over 
four-fifths of the students are in the machinists trade and 
are being trained to understand repair work. The follow- 
ing figures were collected in 19 14 and cover the returns 
from over ^o plants." 





Number of Students 


Percentage 


Machinists Trade .. . 

All otliprs 


4202 
997 


80.8 
19,2 




Total 


5199 


100. 







These figures are especially significant since they are from 
corporation schools. Modern business concerns will train 

1 The repair of passenger and freight cars does not require as much 
skill but there is specialization even in repairing cars ; a government 
investigation showed that this branch of work had 13 sub-divisions. 
See Bulletin No. 163, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ** Wages and 
Hours of Labor in the Building and Repairing of Steam Railroad 
Cars," p. 6. 

' This table was compiled from raw material contained in a report by 
the sub-committee on manufacturing and transportation, and published 
in the Proceedings of the Second Annual Con. of th^ Nat. Assn. Cor- 
poration Schools, pp. 408-415. 



325] 



WHAT EDUCATION IS NEEDED 



119 



employees only for those tasks for which they are needed. 
The great predominance of men equipped for repair work 
is therefore strong proof of the fact that it is chiefly in re- 
pair W'Ork that skill is needed. The skill which was form- 
early spread out thin over the wdiole mass of workers has 
been concentrated in these men. They are distinctly the 
aristocracy of the labor-force. And in order to equip them 
for their work, they need a thorough technical and practical 
training. 

Since repair work claims but a small proportion of the 
laboring force in industry, we should therefore expect the 
percentage of skilled operatives to be relatively low. 

An investigation by the Chicago City Club of 189 plants 
in twenty industries disclosed the following distribution 
of skill : ' 





Number 


Percentage 


Unskilled employees 

Low-grade skilled employees 

High-grade skilled employees 


27,750 
36.773 
24,810 


31 -I 
41.2 

27.7 


Total 


89,333 


100. 



The low^-grade skilled employees were those who could 
pick up their work in a few days. Over two- thirds of the 
workers could, therefore, be regarded as practically un- 
skilled. 

After all allowance is made, it seems clear that skilled 
workmen are distinctly in the minority. The amount of 

^ A Report on Vocational Training in Chicago by a Commiuee of the 
City Club of Chicago, p. 45. The employees were grouped in the various 
classes according to the classification of the Douglas Commission on 
Vocational Education. 



I20 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [326 

skill which the average worker must posses is still further 
decreased by the system of scientific management. The 
various constituent parts of the system/ motion study, 
the standardization of tools and equipment, the setting of 
the standard task, routing, and functional foremanship, all 
divest the individual operative of much of the skill and 
judgment formerly required, and concentrate it in the 
office and supervisory force. Under the ordinary system 
of. shop management the workman must take care of 
the machine, make adjustments, care for the belting and 
to some degree determine the rate of speed with which the 
work is tO' be done. This is completely altered by functional 
foremanship. These sub- jobs are now handled by special- 
ists. One specialist attends to the belting, another to the 
hand tools which the operator may need, one will superin- 
tend the speed at which the machine is driven, w^hile still 
another will make the minor repairs. The system of rout- 
ing and scheduling together with the use of instruction cards 
prescribes the manner in which the work is to be done, and 
standardizes the task. The work of the machine hand is 
thereby reduced to more automatic processes, and the 
necessity for appreciable skill is taken from the individual 
workman. 

Time and motion study, moreover, tend to reduce each 
job to its simplest elements. This in turn gives an op- 
portunity for the introduction of still more machinery which 
will take over much of the routinized hand work. Pro- 
fessor Hoxie corroborates this when he says : " " the pre- 
ponderancy of time-study is to split up the work into 
smaller and simpler operations and tasks." Professor 
Hoxie's conclusion that, " Scientific management furthers 

^For description of each of these methods see F. W. Taylor, Shop 
Management and H. B. Drury, Scientific Management, pp. 69-86. 
'^R. F, Hoxie, ScientiHc Management and Labor, p. 125. 



327] ^^^ ^ ^^ ^''^^ T^^O^' ^^ NEEDED 1 2 1 

the modern tendency towards the specialization of the 
workers '' ^ seems therefore tO' be justified." 

But if the labor of the rank and file has been rendered 
less skilled by scientific management, the skill required 
of the cfiice and supervisory force has been enormously in- 
creased by it. The standardization of the task, together 
with the routing and the planning, make larger demands 
upon the planning room. What was foniierly left to the 
initiative of the workman must now be cared for, in a 
scientific manner, by a central body.^ In like manner the 
functional foreman must be capable of greater trade ability 
than that which the average worker formerly required. 

In consequence of the added burdens under scientific 
management, the planning and supervising force must com- 
prise a larger percentage of the working staff than under the 
old i*ule-of-thumb methods. The ofiice force of the Tabor 
Manufacturing Company before the introduction of scienti- 
fic management numbered only 4% of the total number em- 
ployed, while afterwards the percentage had risen to 20.* 
One plant in which scientific management has been intro- 
duced actually has more men in the planning room and 
in supervisory positions than as common artisans. The 
effect of both the machine process and scientific manage- 
d/tic/., p. 123. 

*F. W. Taylor, the father of the system, in his Principles of Scientific 
Management clearly indicates that such is the effect of the movement 
when he says, " The man in the planning room, whose specialty under 
scientific management is looking ahead, invariably finds the work can be 
done better and more economically b)'' a subdivision of the labor ; each 
act of each m.echanic for example should be preceded by various pre- 
paratory acts done by other men," p. 2)^. 

^ F. W. Taylor, op. cit., " Under the management of initiative prac- 
tically the whole problem is up to the workman, while under scientific 
management fully one-half of the problem is up to the management," 
p. 38. 

* H. B. Drury, op. cit., p. 82. 



122 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [328 

ment upon the skill of the workman may l^e compared to the 
working of a cream separator in which milk is divided 
into two sections, one consisting of skim milk with no fats, 
the other of thick cream. The extension of machinery has 
had similar results. The skill which was formerly spread 
but thinly over the great mass of workers is concentrated. 
The large mass of machine builders and machine users are 
divested of it : they are the skin milk. A small minority, 
the repairmen and the designers and planners, possess a 
great deal more skill than ever before : they are the cream. 
Scientific management extends and amplifies this tendency. 
It squeezes out from the machine operation the little skill 
that is left and gives it to the planning and repairing force. 
This process was hastened by the dilution of labor during 
the war caused by the labor shortage. Particularly in Eng- 
land, was the division of labor carried to a hitherto un- 
thought-of degree.^ 

Ruskin and William Morris battled against this tendency 
of machine industry. They tried to lead the way back to 
the days of handicraft, to restore to the craftsmen some of 
the wholeness which specialization prohibits. Their be- 
lief in the joyousness of the medieval craftsman was doubt- 
less exaggerated. Work under hand-production was prob- 
ably more laborious than now, and the mass of mechanics 
never sang so loudly or continuously as modern admirers 
of the middle ages such as Mr. G. K. Chesterton and Mr. 
Arthur J. Penty seem to believe. Much as we may honor 
the idealism which lies behind the xA.rts and Crafts move- 
ment, we must admit that it has not proved to be a busi- 
ness success. Some of the material produced by hand may 
be intrinsically superior to the machine production, but part 
of it undoubtedly derives its value from the very fact that 
it is costly. 

* See Sidney Webb, The Resforatiou of Trade Union Conditions. 



329] WHAT EDUCATION IS NEEDED 123 

Its very cost, moreover, prohibits it from meeting the 
demand of the vast majority of people. A standardized 
product produced in large amount with low-unit cost is the 
one which gives the greatest utility to them, and such a 
standardized product must necessarily be m.achine-made. 

Since then no substitute for the machine process seems to 
be available, advocates of industrial education should recog- 
nize that mechanical production does not require many skil- 
led workers, and that consequently the old handicraft ideal 
of giving each workman all-round technical skill is impos- 
sible of fulfilment. 

The leaders in the vocational education movement have 
hitherto been reluctant to face the facts of modern large- 
scale production with its specialization of labor. They 
have been trying to equip the boy with an education that he 
does not need and cannot utilize. The sooner thev 
cease to think in terms of the handicraft era, the greater 
will be the chance of creating an educational system that is 
worth while. 

However, one should beware of jumping to the opposite 
extreme and concluding that the modern worker needs no 
education. This would be an even greater error. The 
worker and more especially the juvenile worker, needs 
perhaps more education that he ever did l3efore; but its 
nature is far different from that which the old apprentice 
boy required. The education w^hich the worker needs to- 
day is at once broader and narrower; broader in that it 
should include more training in industrial life, in hygiene, 
civics and so forth; narrower in that trade training in the 
specific trade processes need not be so' prolonged. 

In the days of handicraft and in the early stages of manu- 
facturing, specialization in a profession was impossible; to 
learn one branch, an apprentice must learn all. Once a 
man learned a trade, he must practise it for life. He had 



124 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION T^^q 

given a hostage to fortune in the form of a prolonged tech- 
nical education. His industrial career was specialized and 
confined within the trade he had mastered ; mobility of labor 
in the sense of l>eing able to transfer from one industry to 
another, was absent. 

The extension of machinery broke the trades up into 
many parts. Learning a trade was no longer a difficult 
affair. The mastery of a process in one industry gave the 
worker a basis for learning a similar process in another, 
should occasion arise. The artisan w^as no longer con- 
fined to one industry, but could work in several. The 
very process of machinery which made work more spec- 
ialized, made the worker less specialized. He was now 
transferable. The w^orking history of the typical artisan 
illustrates this. He moves from shoe factory to cotton mill, 
from cotton mill to machine shop, and so on. A machine- 
tender who has learned the general principle of caring for 
a machine can tend ribbon-weaving machinery as well as 
shoemaking. He is really an interchangeable part in the 
industrial mechanism.' The effects of this increase in 
mobility have been numerous: (a) it enabled an industry 
rapidly to meet an increased demand whereas it was 
formerly difficult for an industry to expand rapidly be- 
cause of the lack of workmen; (b) it broke down the isola- 
tion hitherto existing between crafts, and promoted a treat- 
ment of the problems of labor as an organic whole. - 

^Of all industries, this is probably least true of the printing, building 
and metal trades, yet in Richmond, Va. a city of stable working condi- 
tions where industrial change is minimized, 35%. of the workers in 
these industries had practiced other trades. See U. S. Bureau of 
Labor Statistics Bulletin A^o. 162, p. 79. 179 of 507 workmen engaged 
in occupations had transferred from other work. 

^It is in the ranks of this floating mass of labor which transfers from 
one industry to another that the theories of syndicaHsm have found 
their chief support. 



33 1 ] IVHAT EDUCATION IS NEEDED 125 

Craft-unionism begins to give way before industrial union- 
ism and the demand for " one big union." (c) We are 
especially concerned with its influence upon the training re- 
quired of the worker. It obviates the necessity for general 
trade training, but if the worker is to move around from 
industry to industr}^ he must be equipped for his transitions.^ 

In order to effect complete mobility of labor the factory 
worker must, however, have a general knowledge of machine 
methods and management. Though men move from in- 
dustry to industr)^ preference is always given to a man who 
has been in the same industry before. It takes a few days 
'' to get the swing " of the new machine, and during this time 
the plant loses on the new employee. There is thus a bar- 
rier which prevents men from being completely inter-change- 
able. This serves to increase unemployment because one 
job is not immediately replaced by another. General 
instruction in the care of machinery, ability to re- 
gulate its speed, together with a working knowledge of 
mathematics and mechanics, would enable the machine- 
tender to shift from one industry to another with less effort 
and would shorten the intermediate period of unemployment. 

Moreover, the workman must be taught more than one 
set of operations in order to protect him from mental 
monotony, and from physical malformation and fatigue." 

The workman, furthermore, needs thorough instruction 
in safety methods. Miss Eastman in her classic study of 
accidents in Pittsburgh found that in 132 of 410 fatalities 
studied, the workman was partially or wholly responsible." 

^ A somewhat similar conclusion may be found in Paul de Rousiers, 
The Labor Question in Britain, pp. 288, et seq. 

* See Josephine Goldmark, Fatigue and Efficiency, pp. 9-39, where tlie 
physiological nature of fatigue together with its causes is analyzed. 
The effect of monotony is ably studied in pp. 58-68. 

^Crystal Eastman, Work-accident and the Law, pp. ^-87. 



126 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [^32 

Most of these 132 deaths were due to ignorance. Nearly 
all were foreigners, unable to understand English or ap- 
preciate their danger, while in 22 cases the workman was 
'' green," and unaccustomed to his job. Several had been 
at work only a few days while 13 more were only boys 
from 14-16.^ An English investigation has declared that ^ 
" the unskilled worker is more liable to accident than the 
trained mechanic. The greater use made of unskilled labor 
during the introduction of automatic machinery in the brass 
trades was the cause of the increased accident risk, also an 
increase in risk in engineering, shipbuilding, smeltering, 
general building and joinery is due to the decay of the ap- 
prenticeship system.'' " 

If operatives were trained how to care for their machines, 
were drilled in safety regulations, and given instruction in 
accident prevention, the number of accidents would decrease. 
Such instruction should be part of every system of industrial 
education that is offered. The operation of workmen's com- 
pensation laws has forced many corporations to undertake 
educational work but this is largely confined to large linns 
and is voluntary. It should apply to small plants as well 
and be compulsory^ for all. To be thus effective, it must 
be a part of a general system of education supervised by 
the state. 

Education in health protection is even more necessary. 
Competent investigators have estimated that '' each of the 
30,000,000 workers in the United States loses on the aver- 
age about nine days every year on account of sickness 
alone." * If the loss of wages is reckoned at $4.00 j^er day 

1 Eastman, op. cit., p. 88. 

-Great Britain, Report of the Departmental Committee on Accidents, 
p. 19 quoted in G. M. Price, The Modern Factory, pp. 142-143. 
^Italics mine. 
*B. S. Warren and E. Sydenstricker, "Health Insurance," Public 



333] WHAT EDUCATION IS NEEDED 127 

and the expense for medical attention at $1.00, the total 
loss would then total over $1,350,000,000 annually. This 
estimate given after an investigation covering approximately 
1 ,000,000 workers does not seem to be an exaggeration. 

Health insurance will do much towards the alleviation 
and prevention of this gigantic amount of ill-health but 
education must play its part. Sanitation and hygiene should 
be taught to all entering an industrial career but they should 
be furnished an opportunity to live a real healthy, vigorous 
life. Individual care can do much to prevent illness and 
instruction along this line should be part of the new ap- 
prenticeship that the workers in industry must serve. ^ 

The reasons why the employer should want industrial 
education for his employees are just as cogent. 

In the first place, it pays him to have his factory tenders 
understand the use of machinery. The more trained they 
are in the care of a machine, the less will the machines need 
repairing. This is a dual economy. It diminishes the 
number of repairmen and lessens the loss which results 
when the capital goods of a plant lie idle. General train- 
ing of the workmen in machine principles would then be 
productive from the standpoint of the employer. 

Secondly, every plant must have many '' general utility " 
men. Accidents and illness leave gaps in the factory force 
that must be filled, while men are also discharged or leave. 

Health Bull. No. ^6, p. 6. The German and English figures indicate an 
average annual loss of about 8-9 days caused by sickness. It is corro- 
borated by recent investigations made in Rochester, N. Y. and in 
Trenton, N. J. and is closely similar in its results to a federal investiga- 
tion in 1901. For further figures and enumeration of diseases see 
American Labor Legislation Review, June, 1916, pp 155-162. 

^ A syllabus that might well serve as a model is that issued by the 
Joint Board of Sanitary Control in the Cloak, Suit and the Dress and 
Waist Industries of N. Y. City, entitled, Workers Health Bulletin, 
22 pp., 1915. 



128 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [334 

New men cannot be found immediately to take the place of 
the old. In consequence every employer must have a reserve 
force of handy men who can fit into those jobs which are 
temporarily vacant/ These employees must know several 
branches of the industry and be able to run many machines. 
To have them simply "pick up" the requisite knowledge 
would be an exceedingly risky affair. They must be trained 
for their utility work. They approximate the old-time ap- 
prentice more closely than any other class of factory opera- 
tives. 

Finally, if health education and accident prevention are 
important to the workers, they are equally vital to the em- 
ployer. Fewer accidents will spell lower accident premiums, 
while a diminution of illness means an increased output 
per man.^ 

Moreover, society as a whole, as well as the employer and 
employee, needs to have the worker given further training. 
Good citizenship, with all that the word implies, is a neces- 
sity for all. The division of labor has progressed so far that 
the worker on a specialized machine is likely to forget that 
he is a part of the complicated structure of industrial society. 
He needs to know the industrial process and to see the inter- 
relation of industries and their co-operation towards the 
production of goods. A history of manual labor, tools 
and of machinery^ would make the factory-hand more inter- 
ested in his task. Every worker moreover should be ac- 

^The Goodj'ear Rubber Co. has a gang of 130 men (called the Flying 
Squadron) who are made expert in all the production processes of the 
shop. They are able to take any place and keep production moving 
smoothl3^ See Proceedings, 3rd Annual Convention Nat. Assn. Corps. 
Schools, p. 254. 

*For a recognition of this fact by a manufacturer, see W. C. Redfield, 
The New Industrial Day. The National Association of Corporation 
Schools has recognized this necessity and its Secretary, F. C. Hender- 
schot, has repeatedly declared that one of the fundamental purposes of 
the Association was to conserve and deepen the health of the employees 
in the plants. 



335] WHAT EDUCATION IS NEEDED 129 

quainted with the significance of his particular industry. 
Thus, if he is a shoe operative, the course might include : a 
sketch of the history of shoe-making; a description of the 
present system of manufacture; an examination of the 
sources of the raw material; the main stages in manufac- 
turing, and the system of marketing. All these would 
make the specialized employee more conscious of the im- 
portance of his particular niche, and would allay much of 
the dissatisfaction which necessarily arises from the isolated 
and minute nature of our tasks. The relation of the worker 
to the state should be discussed and, if it is possible to secure 
fair and impartial treatment, the subject of unionism should 
not be ignored. 

It is furthermore of vital importance that those best fitted 
should reach the upper rungs of the industrial ladder. To- 
day, however, we have huge noncompeting groups between 
which there is little competition.^ The children of the 
poorer classes leave school, as we saw, at 14 or shortly after, 
to enter unskilled jobs. They are given no training that 
will fit them for the more highly skilled work for which 
many of them have natural talents. In consequence nearly all, 
save the truly exceptional, are confined to the lower grades 
of work. The better positions are filled from a restricted 
economic class and there is, consequently not as rigid a 
selection as there would be if there were a larger number to 
choose from. A system of education that would allow all 
an equal opportunity to try for the better positions would 
partially remedy this. Many who are now confined to un- 
skilled labor would then rise to more responsible positions. 

* For a discussion of the economic and social significance of non- 
competing groups see J. E. Cairnes, Some Leading Principles of 
Political Economy, pp. 66-68, where a suggestion of Mill's is expanded 
without due credit being given, cf J. S. Mill, Principles of Political 
Economy, pp. 248-49 and pp. 257-260. A more expanded treatment is 
given by F. W. Taussig, Principles of Economics, vol. ii, pp. 129-142. 



130 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [336 

The least efficient of the present occupants of the high posi- 
tions (who now hold their jobs because of the lack of com- 
petition) would be weeded out. The consequent increase 
of national efficiency would be great and would in itself 
justify a more prolonged education than is now given.^ 

So far we have been speaking of the rank and file of 
labor. We have seen that even for them, more training is 
required than is now given ; in making them better men, we 
make them at the same time better workmen. 

There remains, however, the so-called aristocracy of 
labor, including the higher-grade machinists, repairmen, sub- 
bosses, foremen, and superintendents. This group is by 
no means homogeneous as respects the amount of skill re- 
quired. Repairmen and the machinists need technical skill 
while on the other hand, foremen and sub-bosses must 
primarily have the ability to lead or to drive men. Every 
industrial plant must have all these men. Its success will 
largely depend on how capable they are. 

The training therefore of these non-commissioned officers 
of industry is of great importance. To make them ef- 
ficient in their respective tasks, a thorough system of tech- 
nical education must be super-imposed upon that given those 
in the lower grades. The repairmen and high-grade 
machinists should know shop arithmetic, mensuration and 
how to determine the weight of a material from its density. 
Instruction should be given in plane geometry, in the use 
and interpretation of blue-prints and in rough sketching. A 
study of the principles associated with the level and inclined 
plane would be another essential, and also the principles 
of mechanics as exemplified by every-day shop experience. 

^ Such a system would not of course obviate the comparative advantage 
of the very rich as compared with the very poor. It would merely 
smooth out some of the barriers between intermediate classes, more 
especially between unskilled labor and the upper-class mechanics. 



337] WHAT EDUCATION IS NEEDED 131 

The foreman and sub-bosses need a somewhat different 
kind of instruction. They are the employer's immediate re- 
presentatives and the personal attitude of the employees to 
the employer is chiefly determined by their conduct. Too 
often they are bullies and try to rule through fear. In such 
cases they alienate the sympathy of the workers and lower 
the efficiency of the plant. Employers should see to it not 
only that the rougher element is not given these supervisory 
jobs, but that those men who are chosen should be trained 
to handle men. 

Psychology is a much-abused term yet it is a requisite 
for all foremen. The various bosses in a factory should 
meet together and discuss, under instruction, methods of 
shop management and, what is more important, problems of 
human management. This system might be extended to 
include classes comprising foremen from different plants 
who would meet to exchange ideas, and pursue common 
studies. 

These men, foremen and machinists, alike, are now chosen 
from the ranks of labor. It is important that the best-fitted 
men should be so selected and trained. At present, a firm 
has the alternative of either training its own non-commis- 
sioned officers, or of hiring them from some other plant. 
In the latter case they are merely shifting the burden of 
training on to someone else. The necessity for education 
and selection must still be met. To recruit the upper grades 
most efficiently, there should be an opportunity for competi- 
tion on the part of the lower. Classes in shop manage- 
ment might be held whereby the managers might pick out 
the ablest members and try them out when a vacancy in one 
of the more responsible positions occurs. 



CHAPTER VI 
The Problem of Vocational Education for Women 

/. Introduction. 

Woman's work is not a new phenomenon. Women have 
always worked. What is new is the fact that women now 
work for wages. Formerly women were unpaid servants, 
performing their household duties not because of economic 
choice but because of family ties. Today a considerable 
percentage work in industries upon the basis of business 
contract. Any study of working conditions and educational 
needs is therefore incomplete which neglects the peculiar 
problems caused by the presence of women in competitive 
industry. The problem of vocational education for women 
differs sufficiently from the problem for men to justify a 
separate treatment. Unlike the preceding chapter, this 
chapter will include a discussion of domestic and personal 
service, trade and transportion, as well as manufacturing. 
Consequently it will treat of vocational education as a 
whole, rather than the narrower field of industrial educa- 
tion. 

The statement is often made that '' women follow their 
occupations out of the home into industry." By this it is 
meant that as weaving and spinning, the making of clothing 
and the preparation of food are constantly tending to be 
performed in factories rather than in homes, women have 
followed their old tasks into these new surroundings.^ 

^For statement of this viewpoint, see J. Adams Puffer, Vocational 

Guidance, p. 157, and David Snedden, The Problem of Vocational 
Education, pp. 51-52. 

132 [338 



339] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 133 

In this explanation, the transition of occupations from the 
home to the factory is made the dynamic, while the move- 
ment of women is the passive factor. This statement must 
be modified in at least two respects : ( i ) whereas formerly 
women worked at all these tasks, nowdays the factory 
woman works at only a part of one. The division of labor 
has narrowed women's work as well as men's. (2) It is 
furthermore as true of men as of women, since all industry 
has proceeded from the home. The male artisan, whether 
imder the domestic or handicraft system, was a home- 
worker. The factory and the home were, in fact, undiffer- 
entiated. It would be equally correct therefore, to say that 
men have followed their occupation from the house to the 
mill. 

What has caused so much emphasis to be placed on this 
tendency in the case of women has been the fact that on the 
whole they have been slower than men to go through the 
process. Cooking, the making of clothing, and laundry 
work have but recently been organized upon the factory 
basis. Their disappearance in a large measure from the 
household has necessarily lightened the toil of the house 
wife. The evolution of these industries has released the 
energy of millions of women for other tasks. Naturally 
they have entered in general the occupations for which they 
fancy their customary training has equipped them. 

The recent movement of women into industry is shown 
by the fact that while in 1880 only 14.7% of the females over 
10 years of age were gainfully employed, this percentage 
had risen to 17.4 by 1890, to 18.8 in 1900 and by 1910 it 
had reached 23.4.^ 

Some of the effects of this entrance of women into in- 
dustrial life should be noted. Perhaps first in importance 

^ 13th Census, vol. iv, " Occupations," p. 26. 



134 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [340 

is the fact that the industrial Hfe of the average female 
worker is relatively brief. Thus, 30.8% of all women 
employed in 19 10 were under 20 years, as contrasted with 
16.5% of the men. Only 16% of the women gainfully em- 
ployed were over 45, while 26.1% of the men were above 
this age/ Professor Persons computed that in 1900, 
49.14% or practically one-half of all women workers were 
under 25 and 71.4% or over seven tenths were under 35.* 

The early age at which women leave industry is indicated 
by the fact that, whereas approximately 40% of all girls 
between 16 and 20 were employed in 1900, that only 26% 
of those between 21-44 were so employed ; while 96% of men 
between 21-44 were employed as against onl}^ 80% from 
16 to 20 years. Had this 21-44 group been separated into 
five-year age groups, it would have undoubtedly shown a 
great falling off in the percentage of women at work above 
thirty. 

The cause for the sudden drop in the percentage of 
women who are at work is of course marriage. In the 21-44 
year period nearly all who are ever to be married, become 
so. This makes them leave industry for the home. They 
have definitely forsaken the factory or the store and few 
will return. Thus what is for men a life-long career, is 
for women but a temporary occupation. Five or at the 
most ten years is the average length of time a woman 
spends in industry. 

This transient nature of woman's work has a dual effect : 
(a) It prevents them from doing skilled work in the in- 
dustry in which they are engaged, and (b) it tends to 
unfit them for housekeeping which most of them must later 
enter. 

^ 13th Census, vol. iv, p. 69. 

'€. E. Persons, "Women's Work and Wages," Quarterly Journal of 
Economics, vol. xxix, p. 215. 



34l] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 135 

It takes time to acquire skill in modern industry. While 
learning, wages are necessarily lower than they would be if 
the worker did not need to be instructed. Learning is 
therefore an investment, which depends for its profitable- 
ness upon long service. It is hard enough for a boy with 
a whole lifetime in industry before him to realize that it 
might be a good thing to learn a skilled trade. For a girl 
who sees marriage before her as a probability, it is almost 
an impossibility. She believes that she will no sooner 
master the trade that she is studying than she will marry and 
turn from the mill or shop to the household. Of what 
avail then will be her ability as a skilled buyer or cutter? 
Her inevitable thought is, " Isn't it better to work at a job 
with a higher starting wage, even though it affords no 
opportunity for trade education ? " 

Such considerations discourage all girls, not merely those 
who ultimately marry. The prospect of marriage looms 
before them all, and each sub-consciously feels that she is 
destined for the home, not for the factory. Thus women 
enter industry regarding it as a place where they can kill 
time and assist their families until Thomas, Richard, or 
Henry "turns up." Naturally therefore, they flock into the 
unskilled positions in every industry they enter. They are 
essentially youthful, unskilled, low-paid and transient 
workers. 

Once at work, they have little incentive to become in- 
terested in their trade. The positions at which they are 
employed are, as we shall see, in the main uninteresting 
and mechanical. This tends to extinguish any instinct of 
workmanship that might be dormant within them. Mar- 
riage is still the probable career and prevents them from tak- 
ing their work seriously. By the age of 25 most of the girls 
have married and have left industry; by 30 practically all 
have done so, and a fresh batch of girls has taken the place 
of those who have departed. 



136 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [342 

There are left, however, those women who have not found 
a husband; who, Hke their sisters, neglected to prepare at 
the outset for a prolonged industrial career. They find 
themselves at 30 somewhat fatigued by the pace which 
modem industry has set, and since it is now too late to start 
in training for the higher positions, they continue to work 
along at the unskilled jobs and remain, on the whole, at the 
foot of the industrial ladder. 

This modern situation, however, not only prevents the 
woman worker from acquiring industrial skill, but it also 
operates to lessen her training in home-making. The 
period of woman's life which she now devotes to industry 
was formerly devoted to learning how to manage a home. 
Through the instructions of her mother she learned how to 
become a fairly competent housewife. Much of the train- 
ing was of course given by the rule-of-thumb method, but 
the period from 16-25 was distinctly one of preparation 
for her future work of housekeeping. Nowadays, the 
woman in industry has little opportunity to get this educa- 
tion. Her days are spent elsewhere, and her work leaves 
her so tired that she does not want to study at night but 
quite naturally she instead craves amusement. 

Moreover, she is necessarily more concerned with getting 
married, than with fitting herself for marriage, since the 
qualities that men desire in girls l>efore marriage are not 
generally those that they would desire after marriage. 
Should a girl study carefully how to become a competent 
mother and wife, it is probable that this would act as a 
passive deterrent to her ever having the opportunity of be- 
coming one. 

Woman is then both an unskilled worker in industry and 
an unskilled worker at home. It is not her fault. She has 
the desire for craftsmanship and for good home-making, but 
society affords her little opportunity to satisfy these desires. 



343] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 137 

While industrial life has given woman greater independence, 
it has also given her uninspiring tasks and has deprived her 
of her former opportunity of learning about home-making. 
Vocational education for women must then train women 
both for industry and for the home. If it does the 
former without the latter, it is preparing the average 
woman for at most only 10 years of her future life; if it 
does the latter alone, it is shirking the needs of those who 
will continue in industry, and is allowing the temporary 
workers to stay at ill-paid and unskilled jobs. 

//. Gainfully employed women; their work and vocational 

needs. 

The following pages contain an analysis of the nature 
of the work performed by women in industry and of 
the possibility of improving their situation through training. 
In 191 o the women employed were divided among the vari- 
ous occupational groups in the following proportions; 
Agriculture, 22.4%; professional service, 8.3%; domestic 
and personal service, 32.5%; manufacturing, 21.9%; and 
trade and transportation, 14.9%. While the number of 
women in all groups had increased absolutely since 1880, the 
relative importance of the various groups had considerably 
altered. Thus domestic service had decreased during these 
thirty years from comprising 44.6% of all gainfully em- 
ployed women to 32.5%, while trade and transportation had 
increased from 6.2% to 14.9% and professional service 
from 6.7% to 8.3%. Agriculture remained approximately 
the same, although the 19 10 statistics are probably not com- 
pletely comparable with those of the preceding years, while 
manufacturing, although almost trebling absolutely, declined 
relatively from 23.8% to 21.9%. 

These different fields of woman's work will now he 
analyzed in respect to their relative importance, the kind of 



138 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [344 

work performed, and the possibilities for training. It is 
much to be regretted that we do not have later statistics than 
those of the 1910 census for the number of women employed 
in various occupations. 

A. Agriculture: Number of Women Percentage of Female 

Employed ^ to totalworkers employed 

1,807,050 144% 

Nearly 60% of the women employed in agriculture are 
colored, while 87% of the total are employed in the southern 
states.^ Those that are not colored are chiefly of the " poor 
white" class and work on the small tenant farms. There 
is, however, a small percentage of native-born women of 
the best type helping with farm work. Some knowledge of 
scientific agriculture is needed by a considerable proportion, 
although the vast majority are, of course, farm laborers 
rather than managers. 

B. Professional Number of Women Percentage of total 
Service: Employed^ number of women employed 

779,825 9-6% 

Eighty percent of this group are trained nurses, music- 
teachers, and, most important of all, school teachers. Taken 
as a whole they are the most favorably situated of all women 
workers. Problems there are to be sure, but the question 
of education is not primary. 

^This is probably somewhat in excess of the actual number, see 13th 
Census, vol. iv, pp. 27-28. 

'Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missis- 
sippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia. 

'For description of working conditions, see A. M. MacLean, Wage- 
Earning Women, pp. 99-129. 

*This number is somewhat larger than that listed in the table 
previously given. This is because it includes several occupations not 
included in the census up to 1900. When the previous table was given 
only these occupations were included under Professional Service for 
1910 which had previously been included. 



345] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 139 



!. Domestic 


No. of 


%, of total 


% Of total No. 


and Per- 


Women 


No, of Women 


in Group {Both 


sonal Service: 




Employed 


Males and Females) 




2,463,413 


30.5% 


67.7% 



Though, the relative importance of domestic service has 
steadily decreased, it is still pre-eminently woman's main 
industry. Formerly " working out " meant acting as a 
servant and it was the common employment of our native 
girls. Today over 56% of domestic *'help" are either 
foreign-born or are negroes. These classes have crowded 
out the native girls, who have gone into other and more 
desirable kinds of work. In theory, domestic service is a 
reconciliation of the conflicting demands of the home and 
of industry. In working for wages, girls are at the same 
time learning how to manage a household. Present work 
iind future occupation are thus joined together. Under 
good conditions, the efficient servant will ultimately be the 
■efficient housewife. It must be frankly admitted, however, 
that little training is given today to the servant of the aver- 
age household. The average housewife of today (unlike 
her grandmother) is seldom capable of efficiently instruct- 
ing a maid in cooking or in housekeeping. As a result 
the maid-servant is compelled largely to blunder through 
things by herself. 

Since education within the home has largely failed, some 
public system of household training seems then to be neces- 
sary. Some form of continuation school, such as will be 
^described later, whereby all the house-servants in a locality 
could be given training in the principles of housekeeping, 
would be valuable. General instruction in personal hygiene, 
food values, and plain sewing, would fill gaps that now exist. 

In discussing domestic service, mention should be made of 
the substitutes for the home. The growing importance of 
hotels, restaurants, and boarding houses, and not the inven- 



I40 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



[34^ 



ticn of fireless cookers, vacuum cleaners, and the like, 
constitutes the real domestic industrial revolution. 

The following figures show something of the growth in 
these occupations since 1880.^ 



Occupation 


1880 


1890 


1900 


1910 


Boarding-house keepers 

Hotel keepers 

RestEurant keepers 


19,058 
32,453 
13,074 


44,349 
34,076 
19,283 


71,281 
54,797 
33,844 


165,482 

64,504 
60,832 




Total 


65,085 


107,708 


159,922 


290,788 





Thus we see that these occupations increased nearly four- 
fold while the population increased but 85 per cent. It 
will be noted that the above table did not include the em- 
ployees of these establishments. Had they been segregated 
by the census a still greater increase would have been shown. 
The development of these occupations is a unique develop- 
ment in large-scale production. Their increase is due not 
only to increased travel on the part of Americans, but also 
because the difficulties attendant upon housekeeping have 
forced many middle- and upper-class families to abandon 
their homes and live in hotels and apartments.^ 

The large scale of these enterprises naturally causes a 
sub-division of labor that the one- or two-servant household 
cannot have. This is especially true, of course, of hotels. 
Chamber-maids, waitresses, and cooks pursue their partic- 
ular occupation and seldom follow any other. As a result 

"^ J2th Census, Special Report on Occupations, pp. 36-37; 13th Census,. 
vol. iv, p. 94. 

2 See an article by I. M. Rubinow, "The Problem of Domestic Service,'" 
Journal of Political Economy, vol. xiv, pp. 502-519. 



347] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 141 

they do not have the all-round training for housekeeping that 
the maid-of -all-work has. 

There are approximately 40,000 chamber-maids and 
85,000 watresses, outside of those in hotels, boarding- 
houses and restaurants. Both of these classes need instruc- 
tion. Cleanliness, promptness, speed, a retentive memory 
and accuracy are all necessities. Training to develop these 
qualities could be systematized, and the efficiency of these 
workers heightened.^ 

Another domestic industry that is developing into the 
factory stage is laundry work. In 191 o this employed over 
663,000, of whom over one-sixth were employed in laun- 
dries and were not home workers. Though men formed 
but 2.5% of the home operatives, they comprised 32.1% 
of the laundry-hands. In this instance men are really as- 
suming what was exclusively woman's employment. 

Home laundry work is heavy and requires care more than 
skill. It is the last resort of broken-down women. In the 
factory the amount of machinery varies with the size 
of the laundry. Physical strength and endurance rather 
than skill or dexterity is required. It is this severe 
physical strain that has led to the introduction of men into 
the trade. Women work almost exclusively as markers, 
shakers, flat-work ironers and folders, starchers, dampeners, 
body-linen ironers, finishers, inspectors, assorters and 

* In three large N. Y. City hotels, classes are held for chambermaids 
in which English alone is taught since the girls are all foreigners. Cf. 
Pamphlet N^o. 263 of National Labor Commission, " Experiments in 
Industrial Education in N. Y. City," pp. 12-13. The working conditions 
of chambermaids and waitresses are such, however, that great reforms 
are needed before they become fit opportunities for women's work. For 
the hardships of a waitress, see The Survey, vol. xxxvii, p. 174 (Nov. 
18, 1916). A long working day, high strain at certain intervals, heavy 
trays, scanty opportunity to sit down, hastily-snatched food, together 
with the blind-alley nature of the job combine to render it objectionable. 

' 13th Census, vol. iv, p. 94. 



142 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [34g 

wrappers. All these jobs are routine and mechanical in 
nature ^ and require little skill. 

D. Manufacturing and Mechanical: 

No. of Women % of Total Women % Women of total 

Employed Employed in group 

1,820,980 22.4 17-2 

For convenience and coherence this class will be sub- 
divided into various groups. 
I. Clothing Industries.^ 

Total No. employed No. of women % Women of Total 
1,551765 949,362 61.2 

Thus over one-half of the women in manufacturing are 
engaged in the clothing industries. 

( a) Dressmakers and Seamstresses. Total No. of women employed 

449,908 

This, with rare exceptions, is completely a woman trade. 
It differs from the factory manufacture of women's clothing 
in that it chiefly covers the costume-field, while the factory 

^For description of laundry processes see vol. xii of the Report on 
the Condition of Women and Child Wage-Earners, pp. 18-25 ; a fuller 
treatment is found in Bull. 122, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, " Em- 
ployment of Women in Power Laundries in Milwaukee," pp. 3S-73. 
Here the injurious nature of some of the work, especially that of the. 
foot tread press, is clearly brought out. See also Elizabeth B. Butler. 
Women and the Trades, pp. 178-203, where the laundry work in Pitts- 
burg is described and analyzed. 

'This classification of "clothing industries" is much broader than the 
one given in the census. It includes milliners, dressmakers, seamstresses, 
cloak, suit, skirt, and over-all operatives; shirt, collar and cuff employees, 
workers in shoe factories, and shoe-makers not in factories. It includes 
practically all the industries that are producing necessary and customary 
articles of clothing. As such, it gives a truer picture than the rigid 
Census definition of clothing industries, which excluded shoe-making, 
milliners, and dress-makers. 



349] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 143 

covers the ready-made field. Many of these dress-making 
shops are still in the handicraft stage in which apprentice- 
ship flourished. They buy their own materials and make 
up the goods, and sell directly to the consumer. Dress- 
making is essentially one of the last stands of the indepen- 
dent handicraft. 

Dressmakers may be classified into three groups: (i) 
Those who work out by the day, (2) those employed in 
small establishments, (3) those employed in large shops. 

(i) Practically all seamstresses and many dress-makers 
are not handicraftsmen but day laborers, who " sew out " 
and move from home to home. In the latter case the goods 
are generally furnished by the consumer and the seamstress 
simply makes them up at a specified rate.^ These seam- 
stresses are working at tasks that are vitally necessary for 
the average wife. Consequently professional training in 
this task is also a particular preparation for home-making. 
Its relation to the home is not as close as that of domestic 
service, but it is nevertheless an indispensable branch of 
housekeeping. 

The independent seamstress who works by the day knows 
the general kinds of sewing, and a few are highly skilled in 
elaborate dress-making. 

(2) By a small shop is meant one which employs ten or 
less. The young worker in these shops needs fairly general 
skill and is supervised quite carefully by the head of the 
shop. 

(3) The work in the larger shops is much more sud- 
divided. The large shop is more like a factory, with its 
separation of employer and worker, its large capital and 
the sub-division of the work. The larger the shop, the 

^ In this it differs from the domestic or the " putting-out " system 
in which a middleman furnishes raw material and sells the finished pro- 
duct. Here there is direct relationship between consumer and producer. 



144 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [350 

more specialized the tasks, and the less all-round the skill re- 
quired. In Cleveland 21 different sub-divisions were found, 
at which separate workers were engaged/ A Massachusetts 
shop with 100 employees had equal specialization." 

In these shops the tendency is for each employee to do 
only one special task. There are exceptions of course when 
in order to fill a rush order, a worker may be transferred to 
another branch. Men seem to fill the most skilled positions 
such as cutting. Current investigation seems to indicate 
that the small shops, though still predominating, are being 
gradually driven out by the larger, and that in consequence 
specialization is on the increase.^ 

Taken in the large, the requirements of the dress-making 
trade are those of good, general training and intelligence 
plus an ability to sew neatly either by hand or by machine. 
There is moreover opportunity for designers who require 
some artistic training, an appreciation of color harmony, and 
a knowledge of fabrics, and textiles.'* 

(b) Milliners No. of women employed 

128,438^ 

This trade likewise is monopolized by women. Like 

1 Cleveland Foundation Education Sun'ey, Edna Bryner, " Dress- 
making and Millinery," p. 31. 

' United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bull. No. igs, May Allinson, 
" Dressmaking as a Trade for Women in Massachusetts," pp. 44-45. 

^ See Allinson, op. cit., p. 52, " The small and medium sized shops are 
disappearing before the competition of the domestic or dayworkers on 
the one side and the large shop on the other." See also Edna Bryner, 
op, cit., p. 30. 

*For the qualities that the dress-making trade requires of its workers, 
see the Vocational Survey of Mitineapolis, pp. 411-424. 

*It is quite possible that the number of dress-makers and milliners 
listed in the census may be above the actual number. It is quite well- 
known among statisticians that professional prostitutes generally list 
their occupation as either that of dress-making or millinery. 



35l] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 145 

dress-making, it is still chiefly in the handicraft stage of 
production, where the independent owner makes up the 
goods with the aid of assistants, and sells them directly to 
the consumer. The tendency towards the factory stage is, 
however, visible in the presence of the factory-made hat 
which has become more important in recent years. 

Retail stores may either make their own hats or merely 
sell the ready-made factory hats. In the latter case the 
-employees are primarily saleswomen not craftswomen. A 
few milliners ma}^ be needed tO' make necessary alterations, 
but beyond this nothng. All-round workm.anship is needed 
in a small shop which makes its own hats, because the 
w'ork is little specialized. The milliner cannot standardize 
her hats, because she must keep a large variety of different 
hats in stock. As a result individual craftsmanship counts 
for much. A fine feeling for color, a capacity for dexterous 
combinations of materials, and a nice artistic sense are all 
needed.^ 

Millinery departments in stores have a much greater sub- 
division of labor than does the ordinary retail shop. 
Wholesale houses have a still greater sub-division. The 
larger the plant, the greater the sub-division and the less 
skill required of the employees. ' 

Miss Perry, in her study found that workers performing 
mechanical tasks outnumbered the trimmers v/ho do artistic 
work by the rate of 6 to i in Boston, and 7 to i in Philadel- 
phia.^ Three-quarters of the employees in Cleveland were 
mere copyists and only 7% were designers.^ 

Milliner}^ is a seasonal trade. Like all seasonal trades, it 
has its periods of feverish over-activity and its correspond- 

^ The reverse side of the shield is the unsanitary, and poorly hghted 
nature of many of the workshops. 

'Lorinda F. Perry, Millinery as a Trade for Women, p. 26. 

' Br3'-ner, op. cit., pp. 60-61. 



146 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [352 

ing seasons of lethargy. Wages are low and prospects of 
advancement slight. Because of this and other reasons, only 
a limited number of girls should be encouraged to enter this 
trade. 

(c) Men's Hats 

Total No. employed Total No. Women Employed % Women 
40,794 11.514 28.29 

Unfortunately the number of workers in the straw hat 
industry cannot be ascertained.^ Straw hat making is highly 
seasonal and the work in the late spring is feverish in its 
intensity. Not much skill is required. High power 
machines are used and the employee should know how to 
manage them. The Manhattan Trade School has tried to 
train the girls already engaged in the industry to be better 
workers, but the possibility of rising to more skilled posi- 
tions is almost nil. The effectiveness of the workers at 
their present tasks might be heightened by trade education, 
but the maximum of efficiency would soon be reached. It is 
distinctly an industry which does not require skill, but merely 
endurance and nervous energy of its workers, and it is one 
which exhausts the energies of those who engage in it. 

The woolen and felt hat industry for which statistics are 
given, is by no means as seasonal. More skill is required 
than in straw-hat making, but the skilled positions are rarely 
filled by women. They are employed in the lower grade 
jobs. 

(d) Collars, Cuffs and Shirts 

Total No. Employed No. of Women Employed % Women of Total 
70,123 50.767 72.4 

^ Under the head of milHners the Census does not distinguish between 
the straw industry and that of straw hats. Many straw-hat workers 
moreover were undoubtedly included. 



353] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 147 

Women's work in these industries is decidedly low-skilled. 
In the manufacture of shirts all the skilled positions, such 
as that of cutter, are filled by men/ Women in consequence 
are fotmd in the routine machine operations. Few or none 
of these require any special skill." 

The collar and cuff industry, which has its center in 
Troy, N. Y. employs women predominantly. The pro- 
cesses are almost completely automatic, work is highly sub- 
divided, with little or no necessity for technical skill. An 
investigation was made a few years ago of this trade in 
which it was found that no trade education was needed by 
the women engaged, since their work required little skill or 
dexterity. Endurance and a good physique were the chief 
requirements. 

(e) Clothing Factories 
Total No. Employed No. of Women %. Women of Total 

529,470 210,879 39-8% 

This in turn has many sub-divisions. 
( I ) Men's Clothing. 

In 1910, there were over 257,000 workers in this industry, 
55% of whom were women over 16 years of age.^ Since 
then, of course, the industry has grown very rapidly. It is 
characterized by a great division of labor and the grouping 
of the w^omen in the lower grade of positions. 

In the manufacture of coats the sub-division of labor 
varies in direct ratio to the size of the shop. In one coat 

* Vol. xviii of the Report on the Condition of Women and Child Wage- 
Earners, p. 288. 

'^ Ibid., pp. 288-289. The work women do is monotonous to the ex- 
treme and is performed under conditions that are exceedingly fatiguing. 
Little or no skill is required. 

•'' isth Census, vol. viii, p. 254. 



^48 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [354 

shop/^ in New York, 49 different occupations were found 
which were performed by different operators, while in some 
.-hops as high as 62 different jobs were found. The most 
skilled occupations are those of cutting, fitting and basting, 
and these are almost completely mamied by men.* Women 
work at the lower-grade tasks,^ and an analysis of the tasks 
they perform shows that speed is the requisite rather than 
skill. 

The manufacture of pants is less skilled than that of 
coats, and consequently women are found in it to a greater 
extent.* In those tasks in which skill is still required, how- 
ever, men are predominant. 

Vest-making is lighter work. Most vests are probably 
made by one worker with a few assistants. Some shops 
however, have carried the division of labor to an extreme 
point. Where sub-division of work does prevail, men again 
dominate cutting and other skilled trades while women are 
engaged at the more simple tasks. 

Taking the industry in the large it is safe to conclude that 
women occupy the lower ranks of operations and work at 
jobs that require little skill or training.* Girls might be 

^ Vol. ii of Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage- 
Earners, p. 462. 

*Ihid., pp. 443. 447. 

^Ibid., pp. 445-462. Whenever in the description of tiie 49 processes, 
it is mentioned that no skill is required, one is almost sure to find that 
the occupation employs women almost exclusively, i. e., padding- collars, 
lapel padding, felling tape, and pulling bastings are instances of this. 

^Ibid., p. 464. 

^For a description of women's position in tlie clothing trade, see 
Mabel H. Willet, The Employment of Women in the Clothing Trade, 
1902, esp. pp. 67-72. This study is somewhat obsolete but the point that 
women do the unskilled work, and men the more skilled is still valid. 
The investigation into the condition of women and child wage earners 
disclosed the fact that most women workers stopped at finishing, button 
sewing, and button hole making. See vol. ii, of the Report, pp. 476-78. 



355] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN j^g 

trained for some of the more highly skilled occupations such 
as pocket making and the sewing in of sleeves in which there 
are few women, at present. 

(2) Women's Clothing. 

This branch of the clothing industry employed over 
162,000 people in 191 o, of whom over 63 per cent were 
women above 16 years. ^ The proportion of women is 
thus higher than in the men's clothing industry. 

In the dress and waist industry, women comprise 84 per 
cent of the working force.^ This trade has many sub-divi- 
sions, there Ijcing as many as 24 different occupations.^ 
Women abotmd in the simple non-operating tasks such as 
cleaning, finishing and assorting, and in the operative 
branches which do not demand much skill. The most highly 
skilled occupation, cutting, is exclusively monopolized by 
men, and one-third of all the men in the industry are found 
in this operation.* 

It should not be inferred that all of woman's work in this 
industry is completely unskilled. Designing and draping 
are distinctly high-grade positions. Moreover over 25% 
of the women in New York shops make the entire garment 
and so need an all-round sewing knowledge that is not re- 
quired in the larger shops where the division of labor has 
been carried to the extreme. On the whole, however, the 
knowledge that is needed by the female workers is not 
specialized craftsmanship, but general knowledge. 

The cloak and suit industry more nearly approaches the 
men's garment trades than it does the dress and waist in- 
dustry. Here the tailoring of heavy textiles predominates. 

' iSth Census, vol. viii, p. 254. 

^Bulletin No. 145, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, p. 158. 

» Ibid., p. 157. 

* Void., p. 169. 



150 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [356 

The heavier work causes men to be more numerous : thus they 
fill the pressing department. Once more women are found 
to be in the lower-grade jobs and men in the upper. 

( 3 ) Shoe-making ( factory ) . 

Total No. Employed No. of Women Employed % Women of Total ^ 
68,549 217,667 31-5 

Here the effects of the division of labor are most clearly 
apparent. Shoe factories are the heightened reflection of 
the tendencies operating in all industries. The making of a 
shoe is so sub-divided that there are over two hundred 
different operations, each cared for by different w^orkmen. 
Women predominate in the routine sewing operations, and 
in the packing, folding, and cementing departments. These 
require little training. Deftness rather than skill is needed." 
Men on the other hand are found in the more skilled levels 
of work. Over 95% of the cutters are men, as are like- 
wise the lasters, while the finishers are chiefly men as well. 

The shoe-makers or cobblers who are outside the factory 
are small handicraftsmen. There are few women in this 
class and for our purposes they may be neglected.* 

2. Textile Industries. 
Total No. Employed No. of Women Employed % Women of Total * 
858,992 410,174 45-6 

^ iSth Census, vol. iv, pp. 350-353- 

2 The unskilled nature of women's jobs may be seen from a study of 214 
women in Massachusetts factories ; 86 or 48.2% required less than a week 
to learn their position, 86 or 48.2% required from i week to 4 weeks, while 
only 42 or 19.6% required over a month, see Bull. No. 180, U. S. Bureau 
of Labor Statistics, " The Boot and Shoe Industry in Mass. as a Vocation 
for Women," p. 50. 

^ The statement made in Chapter V that repair work was the chief 
branch of modern industry, which demanded skill is here corroborated. 
The modern cobbler does chiefly repair work. Since he must know how 
to construct the whole shoe, he is much more skilled than the factory- 
hand. 

* 13th Census, vol. iv, pp. 380-393. 



35/] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 151 

There are four main textile industries, (a) cotton, (b) 
woolen (c) knitting, and (d) silk manufactures. Other 
divisions such as lace, embroidery, and rope and sail manu- 
facturies will be omitted because of their comparative unim- 
portance. 

(a) 148,000 women were employed in 19 10 in the cotton 
industry where they formed 40% of the total force. 60% of 
the men were employed at occupations in which nO' women 
at all are employed.^ The women are employed at the 
simpler and less skilled operations. Thus ring spinning is 
work that requires neither special mechanical knowledge or 
great physical strength,^ and is performed almost wholly by 
women and by children. The spooling of the yarn and the 
'' drawing-in" (a threading process) are also managed by 
women. 

Men. on the other hand, monopolize mule-spinning be- 
cause it is more difficult than ring-spinning. They do 
all the mixing, carding, and slashing, while all the loom- 
fixers are likewise men.''' 

(b) 55,000, or 42%, of the 138,000 employees in woolen 
mills were women.* Here again they occupy the lower 
grade jobs. They comprise practically all of the furlers, 
rovers, drawers-in, sewers and menders, spoolers, and twist- 
ers. Loom fixers are again entirely men, while men predom- 
inate as carders, combers, slashers, sorters, and scourers. 
The same demarcation that is characteristic of the cotton 
industry is applicable here. Wherever there are skilled 
positions they are filled by men, while women are found 
wherever work is completely unskilled and routine. 

^ Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage-Earners, vol. i, 
'" Cotton and Textile Industries," p. 47. 

* Ibid., p. 403- 

* For description of processes, see ibid., pp. 399-408. 

* 13th Census, vol. vi, pp. 390-392. 



1-2 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [358 

(c) F'ifty-five percent of the silk operatives in this country 
were women in 1910/ This industry has deveioped very 
rapidh^ due to a cheap labor supply and the protective 
tariff. Hand looms have been displaced by machine looms 
more completely than abroad. Silk manufacturers have 
located their plants where a cheap labor supply abounded. 
Thus Pater son, N. J., where immigrants could be secured, 
was chosen as the first center of the industry. Later the 
seat of the industry was moved to the coal-mining centers 
of Pennsylvania, where the wives and children of the 
miners could be secured for low wages because of the neces- 
sity of eking out the low yearly earnings of the heads of 
the households. 

(d) In the knitting mills as well, there is little competi- 
tion between the sexes. While women are engaged at the 
light and unskilled posts, men do the heavy work- and in so 
far as skill is required, fill those positions as well. The 
full-fashioned knitting machines are the most complex of 
a,ll the machines, and several years training is required to 
know how to operate them. These machines are " in- 
variably operated by men." ^ 

3. Food Trades. 
Total Number in Trade No. of Women % Women of Total 
413,559 63,214 15.2 3 

Though this is woman's proverbial occupation, she forms 
but 15% of the number of employees. This is a consider- 
ably smaller percentage than that which the total number of 
working women form of the total working population. In 
woman's traditional employment, therefore, as the industry 
has moved away from the home, men have gone into it. 

^ 13th Census, vol. vi, p. 388. 
^Ibid., p. 197. 
^'Ihid., pp. 328-336, 



359] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 153 

In this instance, women have not followed, but have rather 
abandoned their work. 

(a) Bakeries 

Total A^o. Employed No. of Women %. Women of Total 
144,782 17,967 12.4% 1 

Women are confined chiefly to the clerical occupations 
and to packing. The intense heat and the heavy work of 
baking itself, has effectually debarred woman from enter- 
ing the more important occupations. Such work as she 
does is mainly mechanical and automatic. 

(b) Candy Factories 

Total No. Employed No. of Women %. Women of Total 
42,684 20,648 48.0%. 2 

Little good can be said of this as a trade for women. 
Wages are particularly low. In 19 13- 14, the majority of 
women in this trade in New York State received less than 
$6 a week.^ Seasonal fluctuations with their over-employ- 
ment and their unemployment are characteristic* 

Here, as elsewhere, men monopolize the skilled occupa- 
tions. Pan work and operating the heavier machines which 
require some skill are distinctly men's occupations.^ The 
'' candy-maker " or table worker is likewise generally a man. 
Miss Phillips, in her study of the industry, enumerates 
seventeen jobs in which women predominate, that can be 
learned in a few minutes to a few hours." ^ 13 other jobs, 

1 13th Census, vol. vi, p. 328. 
^Ihid., p. 430. 

* 4th Report, N. Y. State Factory Investigating Conim , vol. ii, p. 326. 
*Ihid., pp. 321-323- 
' Ihid., p. 308. 

*Anna A. Phillips, "An Investigation of the Candy Industry to 
determine the possibilities of Vocational Training," 4th Report, New 



1-4 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [360 

10 of which are done chiefly by women, require little more 
than ''' a few hours' to a few days' " training/ 

Chocolate and bon-bon dippers are the most highly skilled 
trades to which women may aspire, but for which as an- 
other study says " very few of the packers and wrappers 
ever qualify."" Though two months or more of training 
are necessary to produce a good dipper, yet the require- 
ments for entrance are exceedingly low. " The require- 
ments for a hand dipper," says Miss Phillips, '' are that she 
appear neat and healthy and has hands that are not hot and 
do not perspire." ^ 

(c) Canneries 

Total No. Employed No. IVomen Employed % Women of Total 
15,553 4-926 317%^ 

The investigations of the Consumers League have shown 
that this industry is one that as now conducted is extremely 
injurious to women. Long hours of routine work at high 
speed are characteristic, their industrial life is so tempor- 
ary that they would not have the opportunity to acquire 
skill, were any required. 

York State Factory Investigating Comm., vol. iv, p. 1355; see also a 
study of the industry in vol. xviii, of Report on Conditions of Women 
and Child Wage-earners, pp. 1 19-137. The federal investigation declared 
that there was " no competition between the sexes, males making the 
candy and females taking charge of the dipping, wrapping, and packing." 
The majority of the operations performed by women were described 
as " unskilled, consisting of simple operations or movements repeated 
indefinitely." Ibid., p. 137. 

^ Phillips, op, cit., p. 1357. 

^Alliance Employment Bureau, "Inquiries into Trades for Factory 
Workers," p. 22. 
» Anna A. Phillips, op. cit., p. 1358. 

* TSth Census, vol. iv, p. 332. These figures do not measure the number 
engaged in canning at the " peak " of the season. 



36j] vocational education for women 155 

4. ■Miscellaneous. 

We will consider under this heading a number of in- 
dustries that are not logically related. By grouping them 
together, however, we secure a more coherent treatment. 

(a) Cigar and Tobacco Factories ^ 

Total No. Employed No. of IVo'ruen %, Women of Total 
195,379 79,486 40.7% 

The cigar industry in this country was originally almost 
exclusively a woman's trade. The wives of Connecticut 
farmers made up the tobacco into crude cigars which were 
either sold directly to the consumer or exchanged at the 
country store for commodities. By 1850, however, factory 
methods were beginning, and the coming of Spanish, Cuban, 
and German cigar-makers into the factories displaced the 
women from their handicraft position. The immigration 
of trained Bohemian women about 1870 brought more 
women into the trade. Unlike the farmers' wives, they did 
not own the raw tobacco nor the homes wherein they 
worked, nor could they market the finished cigar. They 
were dependent upon a capitalistic entrepreneur for the 
purchasing of the raw material and the selling of the pro- 
duct. Consequently they worked under the domestic or 
'' putting out " system rather than the handicraft system. 
The development of machinery made the work more un- 
skilled and thus made it possible to employ more women. 
Women were also introduced into the trade by the em- 
ployers in an attempt to break the power of the unions.^ 

It is difficult to separate cigarette from cigar making but 
in 19 10 women formed 40% of the employees in the tobacco 

^ iSth Census, vol. iv, p. 396. 

*For the historical material about women in the cigar industry I have 
drawn largely upon Miss Edith Abbott's article on " Employment of 
Women in Industries : Cigar making, its History and Present Ten- 
dencies," Journal Political Ejcon., vol. xv, pp. 1-25. 



1^6 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [362 

industry as a whole. The Federal Investigation into the 
Condition of Women and Child Wage-earners found that in 
58 typical cigar factories visited, women comprised 67% 
of the total force/ 

Woman's work in the factories is diverse in character. In 
some factories they are absolutely unskilled while in others 
the}^ are the '' pickers " and '' makers," which are the two most 
skilled occupations in the trade. Taken as a whole, how- 
ever, the federal report concluded that *' Women pre- 
dominated in the unskilled work, and that they are losing 
ground in the skilled occupations." ^ Women are more 
and more going into occupations like stripping and light 
machine operating, which require little skill. 

Cigarette making is less of a domestic industry than 
cigar-making and is more in the factory stage. A cigarette 
plant employs on the average more men than a cigar 
factory,^ and this permits the introduction of machinery 
to a greater extent than is possible in the smaller cigar 
factories.* This susceptibility to machine methods is more- 
over increased by the fact that cigarettes are a more 
uniform and standardized product than cigars and require 
fewer processes. Because of this fact, specialization is 
naturally greater in cigarette than in cigar-making. 

^Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage-earners, vol. xvii, 
p. 89. 

^Ibid., p. 91. 

^Ibid., p. 77. "In 1905, the average number of wage-earners per 
cigarette factory was 28.8 while for cigar factories the average was 
only 8.3." 

*The question as to whether large-scale production causes the intro- 
duction of machiner}'- or whether the introduction of machinery causes 
large scale production is a logical tangle which is impossible to determine. 
It is not a question of cause and effect but of inter-action. A plant 
must be organized upon a fairlj^ large basis to afford the heavy over- 
head expense of machine introduction; this introduction in turn in- 
creases the output and paves the way for expansion upon a still larger 
scale. Here as elsewhere in industrial life, growth is cumulative. 



7^6^] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN i^y 

The Federal Report says of cigarette making, " Prac- 
tically none of the female wage-earners can be called skilled. 
In many of these occupations, a brief training is required, 
but there is no operation in which the necessary knowledge 
cannot be easily gained in a few weeks." ' The differen- 
tiation between the work of women and of men is 
brought out by the division of machine operations. Mak- 
ing oval cigarettes requires strength and mechanical know- 
ledge on the part of the operator ; hence these operators are 
nearly all men. Round cigarettes are made on a simple 
and light machine, therefore women predominate in tliat 
branch. 

(b) Clock and Watch Manufacture - 

Total No. Employed No. of Women % Women of Total 
^^'036 8,717 33.5% 

In this industry, women work at a multiplicity of opera- 
tions. Some of the work such as soldering and japanning 
is unskilled drudgery, some operations such as making 
mainsprings, finishing the parts, and adjusting the balance 
wheel require the highest delicacy of touch and accuracy 
of judgment. In case-making, an important and skilled 
branch of the clock industry, men predominate to the almost 
complete exclusion of w^omen.* 

(c) Jewelry * 

Total No. Employed No. of Women %. Women of Total 
36,993 9,765 26.4%. 

^Report on Condition of Women and Child-earners, op cit., vol. xviii 
p. 7^- 

* 13th Census, vol. iv, p. 2>^. Women are relatively more numerous in 
watch-making than in clock-making. 

^For an analysis of watch and clock-making, see Report on Condition 
of Women and Child Wage-earners, op. cit., vol. xviii, pp. 111-119. 

* 13th Census, vol. iv, pp. 368-370. 



158 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [364 

Women monopolize the following occupations ; chain- 
making, curbing, enameling, carding, and finishing; all 
routine and relatively unskilled occupations. The Federal 
Report says '' comparatively little of the work done by 
them (by women and children) could be called skilled." ^ 

{d) Paper Box Factories ' 

Total No. Employed No. of Womoi % Women of Total 
22,976 14,324 62.3% 

This is predominantly a woman's trade. The work has 
become highly specialized, and the use of machinery has 
spread rapidly. The occupations in which Avomen are 
employed are in the main distinct from those in which men 
are engaged. ^ Neither technical training nor skill is required, 
but manual dexterity. Professor Leonard, after an exhaus- 
tive study of the industry, concluded that no provisions for 
vocational education were necessary because of the low- 
skilled nature of the work.* 

(e) Paper and Pulp Mills ^ 

Total No. Employed No. of Women % Women of Total 
90,799 13,965 154% 

Women are chiefly employed as platers, counters, cutters, 

^Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage-earners, vol. xviii, 
p. 219. 

' 13th Census, vol. iv, p. 374. 

^Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage-earners, vol. xviii, 
p. 258. 

*See R. J. Leonard, "An Investigation of the Paper Box Industry to 
Determine the Possibility of Vocational Training," 4th Report, N. Y. 
State Factory Investigating Commission, pp. 1243-1346, esp. pp. 1345-46, 
where his conclusions are given. For a somewhat more favorable view 
of the industry. Cf. Alliance Employment Bureau, Inquiries into Trades 
for Factory Workers, pp. 13-18. Case making for jewelry and silver- 
ware, a hand trade, is found by the Alliance Bureau however, to be one 
in which women do the low-grade work, see ibid., pp. 23-29. 

* 13th Census, vol. iv, pp. Z7^Z7^- 



2^6s] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN j-g 

and trimmers, sorters and rag-pickers. All of these jobs 
are either completely unskilled or require but little skill from 
the worker. The upper grades of the industry such as pulp 
colorers, grinders, and beater-men have not as yet been 
penetrated by the women. 

(f) Blank book, envelope and tag factories'^ 

Total No. Employed No. of Women %. Women of Total 
19,321 8,891 46.2% 

Here also woman finds the chief source of her employ- 
ment in the lower grades of work. Women fill positions 
such as binders, folders, inspectors, unskilled machine- 
hands, packers, pasters, and sorters; all quasi-automatic 
positions. Men predominate in color-making, cutting, print- 
ing, and as pressmen; these are higher grade jobs. 

(g) Printing and Publishing - 

Total No. Employed No. of Women % Women of Total 
355,674 76,676 21.5% 

There are two branches to this industry : newspaper and 
periodical printing, and book and job printing. Though 
separate figures for the two fields are not given, women are 
relatively more important in the latter than in the former. 
In 1905, they formed 18.5% of those engaged in news- 
paper printing, and 23.4% of those in the book and job 
end of the industry.^ 

Women are almost wholly confined to hand composing. 
Here they set up the '' straight " matter, but do not do dis- 
play work. The introduction of machinery has taken over 
much of the hand composing, but the machines are seldom 
run by women. This is due to the fact that they do not 

^ 13th Census, vol. iv, p. ^,^6. 
'Ibid., p. 378. 

3 See Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage-earners vol x 
p. 188. ' • . 



l6o INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [366 

run machines as swiftly or as skillfuly as men.^ Thus 
women in the printing trades do not compete appreciably 
with men, save in the field of ''straight" printing. Men 
have the better class of positions to themselves.^ 

Book binding in the 13th Census is listed in the printing 
and publishing trades. Miss Van Kleeck's study clearly 
shows the subordinate positions which women occupy in 
this trade. Women work chiefly as folders, pasters, sewers, 
and examiners.^ These jobs are in the main so simple and 
rej>etitive that practical binding experts believe that in- 
dustrial training is not needed for them.* 

The more important tasks, such as trimming, rounding, 
backing and finishing, are performed by men. The line of 
demarcation between " men's work " and " women's work " 
is sharp and is one that is seldom crossed. 

Summary For Manufacturing 

This inductive study of trade after trade has shown, 
with perhaps monotonous reiteration, that women in 
practically every trade are congregated in the lowxst un- 
skilled jobs and that they thus do not really compete with 
men. Some cross-section studies that consider the field as 
a whole, not one specific trade, show this clearly. Miss 
Butler in her Pittsburg investigation secured the following 
statistics, covering woman's relation to skilled work.^ 

^Onl}'' 700 of approximately 13,000 machine operators in 1908 were 
women. See G. E. Barnett, The Printers, p. 318. 

^For further information upon women in the printing trades see 
Belva M. Herron, Labor Organization Among Women, pp. 15-24. 
G. E. Barnett, The Printers, pp. 316-320. I have obtained much valu- 
able information from an unpublished manuscript by Dr. F. A. Russell 
on The Printing Trade of Illinois. 

'Mary Van Kleeck, Women in the Book-binding Trade, pp. 28-9. 
*Ibid., pp. 210-215. 

^Elizabeth B. Butler, Women and the Trades, p. 369. These figures 
do not include the 6,500 saleswomen in mercantile estabHshments. 



3^7] 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 



lOI 



Kind of Work 



Skilled work 

Handicraft 

Hand work requiring dexterity 

Machine operating 

Machine tending 

Wrapping and labeling 

Hand work requiring no dexterity- 
Total 




Percentage 



.8 
1.9 
23.2 
31. 1 
13-9 
13.3 
15.8 



lOO.O 



Thus only 2.y% of these women at work could be called 
skilled; 23.2% (those in hand work which required dex- 
terity) might be spoken of as semi-skilled. Many of these, 
however, " learn what they have to do in a week." 74.1% 
or over one-quarter mastered their job in three days or less. 
The following table of 516 women workers shows that 
little training is needed for the positions women occup}^ in 
the textile trades.^ 



Days learning present 
occttPation 


Number of 
Workers 


I 


79 i 
105 
136 
3^7 

445 1 
496 i 


2 or less 


3 or less 


6 or less 


12 or less 


30 or less 





Percentage 

( Cumulative] 



15.3 
20.4 
26.3 
61.4 
86.2 
96.1 



These figures are exceedingly illuminating. 15.3% of 
the women workers learned their task in one day. 26.3% 

* This table is adapted from figures given in Anna C. Hedges, Wage- 
zuorth of School Training, p. 369. Miss Hedges' study is one of the 
most admirable pieces of work that has been done in America and is 
thoroughly trustworthy. 



l62 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [368 

cx over one-quarter mastered their jobs in three days or less. 
61.4% or over three-fifths, took only a week or less, 86.2% 
or seven-eighths, required two weeks or less, and 96.1% 
were able to learn inside of a month. Only 3.9% required 
more than a month. 

It is, therefore clear, that women in manufacturing work 
almost uniformly at low-grade positions which in the main 
require neither innate skill nor training. Their labor 
chiefly consists in the monotonous repetition of simple 
movements. 

E. Trade and Transportation.^ 
Total No. Employed No. of Wo meth Employed %. Women of Total 
7,526,084 935,759 12.4% 

Only 168,000 of the 3,200,000 employed in 19 10 in the 
transportation industries were women, or approximately 
six percent. Indeed, in only one industry did they form an 
appreciable factor. 88,000 of this number are telephone 
operators. 

(a) Telephone operators ^ 
Total No. Employed No. of Women Employed %. Women of Total 
97,893 88,262 90.1% 

Thus women monopolize the only industry in transporta- 
tion in which they are appreciably employed.^ Telephone 
operation in communities of any size is high-strung, tax- 
ing work. Quick muscular coordination, high power of 
concentration and illimitable patience are prime requisites 
for a successful operator. Indeed, the strain is so intense 

^ 13th CensuSy vol. iv, pp. 92-93. 

*Ibid., p. 93- 

'During the war, there was an increase in the number of women 
employed on the various railroads. At one time, approximately 1 10.000 
were employed. By January, 1920. this had been reduced to 90,000. 
These were engaged chiefly in ticket selling and clerical work. 



369] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 163 

that the industrial Hfe is very short. In Pittsburg the 
average length of time that a telephone girl stayed in the 
trade was only from fifteen to eighteen months/ This in- 
dustry may well be called either skilled or semi-skilled. 
Telephone managers in various cities estimate that from one 
year to two years' experience is needed to produce an 
efficient operator." Companies are beginning to recognize 
this fact and are establishing schools where the girls may be 
trained before they start work, but the low salaries paid 
militate seriously against their holding the operators for 
long. 

(b) Saleswomen. 

It is impossible to secure statistics concerning the number 
of women employed in the different kinds of stores. The 
Census differentiates between the owner of a drugstore and. 
the owner of a men's clothing establishment, but does not 
differentiate between the employees. They are lumped to- 
gether under such general headings as book-keepers, cash- 
iers, clerks, salesmen, etc. Thus the division between the: 
employees is by function rather than by trade. 

Bookkeepers and cashiers will be discussed later in con- 
nection with office-work as an opening for women. We 
shall consider here only salesmanship and clerking as op- 
portunities for work. 

Clerks and salesmen should form two logically distinct 
groups. The former covers the administrative and account- 
ing divisions of retail and wholesale trade, the latter the 
actual selling end. In the taking of the census, however, 
the enumerators failed to distinguish carefully between 
these two groups. Many salesmen were undoubtedly counted 

* Elizabeth B. Butler, Women and the Trades, p. 291. 

2 Nelle B. Curry, Investigation of the Wages and Conditions of; 
Telephone Operatives, pp. 2-23. 



104 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [370 

as clerks and vice-versa. Statistics for both groups are 
consequently given below/ 

Total No. Employed No. of Women %. of Women of Total 

1. Salesmen 875,180 250,438 26.6% 

2. Clerks 387,183 iii,594 28.8% 

Can salesmanship be considered a skilled trade? Con- 
troversy has raged about that point. The trouble with the 
supporters of both views is that each has tried to make 
universal applications of its side of the case. The truth 
lies in the golden mean. Some types of salesmanship are 
skilled, while some are unskilled, and no sweeping statement 
can be made. 

Sales w^omen in five-and -ten-cent stores certainly are not 
skilled and do not need training. In fact they are sentinels 
rather than salesmen. They stand behind a counter, watch 
the customer make his decision ; receive the money, wrap up 
the parcel and that is all. They are really guards to pre- 
■tvent theft, and also to bring goods from the shelves for the 
customers' choice, but they do not sell. The customer 
literally sells to himself.^ Girls often work in these stores 
to acquire some experience so that they may enter other 
mercantile establishments. 

Saleswork in many other stores is similar. A drug clerk, 
who does not put up prescriptions, needs only to know the 
stock and bring the customer what the latter demands. He 
does not need either skill or training. All stores which deal 
in standardized articles require little selling skill of their 
employees. 

Thus certain branches of department-store work are 
essentially unskilled. The notion department and the lower 
positions in the house furnishing and crockery departments 

^ See 13th Census, vol. iv, p. 22. 

^See Iris P. O'Leary, Department Store Occupations, pp. 26-32. 



371 ] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 165 

reqtiire the worker only '' to watch merchandise and hand 
out goods." ^ 

Department-store work may be divided into three classes, 
(a) selling, (b) delivery, and (c) office force. The last two 
occupations may also be designed as '' non-selling occupa- 
tions, '' and they comprise about fifty percent of the total 
employees.^ 

The selling department has a number of sub-divisions. 
Messenger or errand work is given to young beginners. 
This requires only the most rudimentary intelligence. 
Checking or packing is the next position. This demands 
(i) knowledge of the store system of making out sales- 
checks in order to correct errors, (2) the elements of arith- 
metic, (3) some skill in wrapping. The next position in 
importance is that of stock-girl. This worker should know 
(i) the various kinds of stock, (2) their place and the 
quantity kept, (3) the store system of marking, (4) the 
basic elements of arithmetic, aud (5) invoicing. 

Sales work is the next step. This requires both technical 
knowledge and a pleasing personality. The sales girl 
should know her stock thoroughly; together with the prin- 
ciples of color and design and the various grades of what- 
ever textiles she may be dealing with. Moreover, she 
should master the store system of marking, of making out 
sales-slips (often a most complicated procedure), and the 
rules concerning " charging." She needs a thorough know- 
ledge of arithmetic coupled with ability to reckon rapidly. 
Local geography, together with the ability to write a legible 
hand, and ability to spell names and addresses correctly are 
all prime requisites. 



1 



I. P. O'Leary, "An Investigation of Department Store Work to 
Determine the Possibility of Vocational Training," 4th Report, N. Y. 
State Factory Investigating Committee, vol. iv, p. 1370. 

^Ibid., p. 1379- 



l66 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [372 

Taken all in all, the work of a salesgirl is by no means 
unskilled. The service which she renders is part of what 
the customer buys. A pleasant, tactful girl who is able to 
select goods skillfully is really selling the customer more 
utilities than an automaton who merely passes goods over 
the counter. 

Sales work in other kinds of stores varies. General 
stores are similar to department stores, though not on so 
large a scale. Neighborhood stores with their personal 
clients, etc., are important factors in many towns and cities. 

The personal qualities of the salesgirl are after all more 
important than her technical knowledge. She must have 
the latter, but that in itself is incomplete. Mrs. Prince is 
correct when she says that education^ of saleswomen must 
be " first for life and then for salesmanship." ^ 

The stores are coming more and more to realize this. 
But while they tell their employees that they are skilled 
Avorkers, they do not generally give adequate wages to tHe 
workers. While a minute examination of department 
store wages would lie outside the scope of this work, the 
statistics indicate an extremely low scale.' Moreover, there 

^ Much valuable literature has been written about the possibilities for 
skill and training in department store work. See Elizabeth B. Butler, 
" Saleswomen in Mercantile Stores," esp. chap, xi, Report on Condition 
of Women and Child Wage-earners, vol. v, pp. 39-44. D. F. Edwards, 
" The Department Stores," Bull. No. 13, Nat. Soc. Promotion Industrial 
Education, pp. 6-12. Iris P. O'Leary, Department Store Occupations 
(Cleveland Educational Survey). The Minneapolis Survey, pub. by Nat. 
Soc. Promotion Indus. Educ, pp. 464-515. The Richmond Survey (pub. 
as Bull. 162, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), pp. 42-47 and pp. 227-254. 
Iris P. O'Leary, "An Investigation of Department Store Work to 
Determine the Possibility of Vocational Education," 4th Report, N. Y. 
State Factory Investigation Comm., vol. iv, pp. 1364-1405. Lucinda VV. 
Prince, What the Schools Can do to Train Girls for Department Store 
Work, Bull. No. 13, Nat. Soc. Promotion Industrial Education, pp. 12-16. 

^Ihid.,v. 15. 

* For statistics on this point, see vol. v, Report on Condition of Women 



373] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 167 

has been hitherto an almost universal lack of a promotion 
system, and little or no reward for the careful or conscien- 
tious worker. The National Civic Federation, by no means 
unfriendly to the employers, declares that " The greatest in- 
justice is slow promotion." ^ 

The almost universal tendency of the large metropolitan 
stores is, indeed, either to discharge girls when they become 
competent to earn a higher wage, or so to discourage them 
that they resign. The stores prefer to use large numbers of 
unskilled girls at low wages rather than to employ more 
thoroughly trained employees at a higher salary. Their 
practice regarding the encouragement of skill is therefore, 
the reverse of their preaching." 

The movement to train saleswomen is one of the most 
interesting in the whole field of vocational education. Mrs. 
Lucinda Prince is the real originator of this movement, 
and by an ingenious combination of part-time instruction 
with actual selling practice in the stores has achieved re- 
markable results. Of late Mrs. Prince has turned her 
attention to training teachers of salesmanship, and her 

and Child Wage-earners, pp. 39-45. Of the female employees in New 
York. Chicago, and Philadelphia Department Stores in 1909, 8.4% re- 
ceived less than $4,00 per week; 17.1%; less than $5.00; 26.4% less than 
$6.00; 43.3% less than $7.00; 57.5% less than $8.00; 68.6% less than $9.00; 
76.1%, less than $10.00. Only 4% received more than $15.00 a week and 
only 2%, more than $20. These figures, when taken into consideration 
with the fact that $9.00 was estimated at this time as the minimum sum 
necessary for the maintenance of a self-supporting woman, indicate the 
inadequacy of the wage. For New York figures, see those collected by 
the Nat. Civic Federation, The National Civic Federation Review, 
July, 1913, pp. 22-25. Even these figures collected by a body friendly 
to the employers, show that 20.6%, received less than $6 per week; 
36.5% less than $7; 51.3% less than $8, and 63.7%, less than $9.00. 

^ National Civic Federation Review, op. cit., p. 24. 

' See an article by Elizabeth Dutcher, " Department Store vs. Trade 
Unions," Department Store Magazine, August, 1914, which emphasizes 
this point. 



l68 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [374 

pupils are rapidly introducing her methods in practically all 
the larg-e cities of the country/ 

Many stores have also started schools to train the girls 
within their own store. The Department Store Association 
in New York City has started several schools for depart- 
ment store workers, while John Wanamaker has long had 
a system of training for his employees. Besides these pri- 
vate attempts, there are also in New York City, continuation 
classes for young department-store workers.^ 

(c) Clerical 0.ccupations^ 
Total N^o. Employed N^o. of Women Employed % Women of Total 
1,737,053 593,224 34-1% 

This group has already been included in the statistics 
given for particular occupations. To give a separate treat- 
ment is then to count them twice. Their problem is, how- 
ever, so different that it merits special treatment. 

( I ) Book keepers, cashiers and accountants. 

Total No. Employed No. of Women Employed %. Women of Total 
486,700 122,665 25.2%* 

The division of labor has extended to book-keeping. As 
in the factory, it varies with the size of the business. 
" Book-keepers in the strict sense " says Miss Cunningham, 
" who keep a complete set of books are seldom found now in 
the large offices. In their place are many clerks who each 
do a small part of book-keeping and are called ledger-clerks, 
cashiers and others according to the nature of the business 

^ See an article by Cassie L. Paine, " Origin and Growth of Movement 
to Train Teachers of Salesmanship." Manual Training, December, 1915, 
pp. 260-66. 

'"Experiments in Industrial Education in New York City," Bull. No. 
263, National Child Labor Committee, p. 12. 

' 13th Census, p. 94. 

*Ihid., p. 94. 



37 S] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 169 

of the employer. The results of the work of these many 
clerks are collected and combined by one book-keeper." ' 
A modern book-keeping department often employs over 20 
workers with but one bona-lide book-keeper.^ 

Here as in the factory, women work at the routine tasks. 
Where the sub-division of labor prevails, they are employed 
to do only one kind of book-keeping. Their field of work 
is essentially narrow. The " book-keeper " proper is 
rarely a woman but almost invariably a man.^ 

In smaller offices, however, the women have of course 
more all-round book-keeping work to do. 

(2) Clerks (except in stores) * 

Total No. Employed No. of Women % Women of Total 
730,498 122,665 17.0%, 

This head includes a most diverse class : Governmental 
clerks, bank clerks, and envelope addressers are all counted 
in this category. Here women also occupy the inferior 
positions. Men monopolize the most responsible positions 
such as bank clerks, shipping clerks, and the higher posi- 
tions in the offices of railroad and manufacturing firms.^ 

Miss Cunningham sums up as follows : '* While the 
women clerks employed under Civil Service, may hold re- 
sponsible and well paid positions, those found in business 
offices are usually doing work requiring little or no technical 
training and less general education than in other kinds of 
office work. They may be addressing envelopes, counting 

* Women's Educational Industrial Union, The Public Schools and 
Women in Office Service, pp. 75-76. 

2 Bertha M. Stevens, Boys and Girls in Commercial Work (Cleveland 
Educational Survey), p. Z7- 
' Women's Educational and Industrial Union, op. cit., p. 76. 

* 13th Census, vol. iv, p. 94. 

^ See Bertha M. Stevens, op. cit., pp. 48-53, 81, 94-95- 



lyo INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [376 

or checking sales or transfer slips, recording all sorts of 
l)usiness transactions or engaged in that indeterminate work 
called general office work." ^ 

(3) Stenographers and Typewriters.^ 

Total No. Employed No. of Women % Women of Total 
316,693 263,315 80.3% 

This is woman's proverbial stronghold. Stenography and 
t\'pewriting has been the " way out " for multitudes of 
middle class women who have wanted to be financially inde- 
pendent. This branch of work is indeed skilled, and in 
fact requires far more ability than the average occupant 
possesses. 

Accuracy, speed and a thorough knowledge of spelling, 
punctuation, and grammar, are absolutely necessary. 
Personal qualities are almost equally important. 

The opening which lies ahead of the typist or steno- 
grapher is the private secretaryship. Indeed stenographic 
work shades into secretarial by infinitisimal degrees. This 
latter position requires broad general education together 
v/ith initiative and responsiblity. 

Though women predominate in this field, many firms pre- 
fer men. This preference is due to the fact that men are 
more permanent workers and consquently the more respon- 
sible officers can be recruited from their ranks. Conse- 
quently men tend to graduate from this class much more 
rapidly than do women. 

///. Women as Home-makers. 
Hitherto, we have considered only women in industry; 
we now turn to the other field of woman's effort, — home- 
making. 

^ Women's Educational and Industrial Union, op. cit., pp. 74-75. 

2 T3th Census, vol. iv, p. 9. Stenographers and typewriters are dif- 
ferentiated from clerks and copyists because of their ability to write 
shorthand and to operate a typewriter. 



377] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN jyi 

The functions that the modern housewife performs are 
far different from those which she formerly exercised. 
When industry was in the domestic stage, the wife as well 
as the husband, was a producer of the family's income, and 
the husband, as well as the wife, directed the consumption 
of the family. The movement of industry from the home 
to the factory has separated and specialized these dual 
functions. The husband secures the family income; the 
wife spends it.^ 

There are many who deny that the management of a 
home is properly speaking a vocation. Their argument 
seems to be as follows : A vocation is one in which produc- 
tion is being carried on; the modern house-wife is a con- 
sumer; she is not following a vocation, consequently educa- 
tion for home management is not vocational, but rather 
general.^ 

This is true only if there is a sharp gulf between pro- 
duction and consumption. This gulf does not exist in life. 
It is true that we produce to consume. It is almost equally 
true that we consume in order to produce. Consumption is 
not only the end of production, but it is the means for 
further production. The consumer who can secure the 
utmost benefits from a limited income is a true producer. 
The wife who directs consumption into clean, wholesome, 
and efficient channels is a producer of values, and an aid to 
economic productivity. 

We are thus justified in treating home-making as a 
vocation. It is indeed a vocation that has been neglected 

1 Mrs. Julian W. Heath estimates that go%, of the income of a middle- 
class family is expended by the wife. 

' See C. A, Prosser, JVhat can the members of the General Federation 
of Women's Clubs do to aid the movement for Vocational Education, 
p. I. " General education prepares us to be intelligent consumers of the 
material and spiritual goods of life — vocational education prepares us to 
be intelligent producers of the goods of life." 



1^2 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [378 

too long. We Americans have tried to achieve prosperity 
by increasing our incomes. We are learning that we must 
also decrease or regulate our expenditures.^ Since home 
making is a profession that the vast majority of women 
must practice, it follows that all girls should be trained for 
it, whereas only a minority need be trained for wage-earn- 
ing proper. 

What then, are the functions for which the housewife 
must be trained ? ' ( i ) She must be an efficient purchaser. 
Food and clothes, fuel and furniture, furnishings and 
fabrics must all be purchased by her. Thus she must know 
textiles and be able to appreciate the economic, aesthetic, 
and sanitary qualities of the various grades. She must 
know food values and market conditions; not only must 
she purchase foods in the proper amounts and propor- 
tions, but she must guide her expenditures by the family 
income. (2) She must direct the material management of 
the house itself. A knowledge of nutritive values of food 
and an ability to cook well and economically is necessary. If 
the housewife is to employ domestic labor, she should be ac- 
quainted with the elements of the labor problem and to be 
able to standardize and arrange the work to be done. 

(3) She must be an accountant. The home as well as 
the business should be able to balance its expenditures, 
against its income. A family cannot expect to attain ef- 
ficiency in its consumption unless it has this monetary rec- 
ord of its expenditures. (4) She must know the principles 
of health : Home sanitation, the maintenance of a physical 
inventory, and the elements of nursing and infant welfare 

^Cf. Wesley C. Mitchell, "The Backward Art of Spending Money," 
American Economic Rez'ieiv, vol. ii, pp. 269-281. 

' I have derived many hints from an admirable article by Mrs. H. M. 
Hitchcox, " The Business of Home-Making," Proceedings Ninth Annual 
Convention of the Nat. Soc. Promotion Industrial Education, pp. 187-195, 



ojg] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 173 

are all necessary. Moreover, she should be so equipped that 
she may train her children completely until the age of six 
and after that constantly supplement the work of the school. 

(5) In order to be a good mother and house- wife, her 
work must not be restricted to the confines of the home it- 
self. She should know the proper opportunities for family 
recreation, and if they are not present, be able and willing to 
cooperate to secure them. It is an integral part of her 
qualifications that she be interested in and able to pass upon 
school training and administration. 

(6) Woman must not be completely subordinated to the 
home itself. " Kirche, Kiiche, und Kinder " should not 
fill her whole horizon. Most men have emphasized the 
importance of training in home-making because of the fear 
that otherwise they would not be comfortable. We should 
recognize that woman is a free functioning personality, and 
that the training given to make her more efficient should not 
obliterate the emphasis upon her right to think and act for 
herself. 

IV Summary 

Women in industry perform low-grade, routine opera- 
tions. They are seldom employed in the same occupation 
with men. The wages of men and women are indeed fixed 
in different markets.^ 

(i) Women in agriculture are not skilled farmers and 
need little or no training. 

(2) Little skill on the whole is required, in domestic and 
personal service as it is now conducted. There are how- 
ever, opportunities to develop and train this class of workers 
which have not been seized. 

*See a note by Emilie L. Wells, Am. Ec. Rez'., vol. ii, p. 439. Also 
Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Problems of Modern Industry, pp. 63-64. 



174 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [380 

(3) In manufacturing, women are at the bottom of the 
industrial ladder. They work chiefly at automatic tasks 
and taken as a w^hole, do not need much vocational training 
for their specific tasks. 

(4) The situation is brighter in mercantile occupations. 
More training is undoubtedly needed by the workers, 
although it is questionable whether this can extend very far. 

These conclusions, based upon a study of specific oc- 
cupations, do not prove that women should be denied voca- 
tional training. They merely indicate that if women are to 
stay in their present position in industry, industrial training 
is, on the whole, unnecessary. If women, however, de- 
sire to attain higher places in industry, vocational training 
would constitute an avenue whereby they might escape from 
their present positions. 

The great barrier to women entering these higher grades 
of labor is, of course, marriage. ]\Iatrimony necessarily 
makes women temporary workers. It renders them unwill- 
ing to undergo prolonged training for a brief industrial 
career, and makes employers, on the other hand, reluctant 
to give them a chance at the higher positions lest they sud- 
denly leave the industry and necessitate the breaking in of 
a new worker. As long as the modern type of family 
exists, it is probable that the mass of women will continue 
to work at the lower grades of labor, although they need 
not be confined to as low-grade work as they now are. 

Women do need education during their industrial life, 
but this education should be primarily for hfe and only 
secondarily for industry. Health, civics, and industrial 
history are needed to make the girl an efficient and interested 
citizen. Instruction in dress and purchasing is also essen- 
tial. Finally, it should not be forgotten that ultimately 
most of the girls Avill become wives and mothers. In- 
dividual manufacturers cannot be expected to educate their 



381] VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR WOMEN 175 

female employees for this career, but the state must do so. 
If it is a social duty to prepare men for their vocation, it is 
equally a duty to prepare women for theirs. Training for 
home-making: and for life, as well as for industry, should 
then be an integral part in any system of vocational educa- 
tion for women. 



CHAPTER VII 
Manual Training 

The first movement to put vocational content in our 
school system was that to introduce manual training. Our 
system of manual training came to us from Russia, 
which in turn derived it from Finland. In the late fifties, 
Cygnaeus, a Finnish educator, devised a system of hand 
work for the schools, which was an extension of the educa- 
tional theories of Pestalozzi and Froebel. The kinder- 
garten method of Froebel was based upon the belief that 
children are educated through the senses rather than by 
purely intellectual processes, and that hand-work thereby 
has distinct educational value. Froebel believed that the 
child secures self-expression and mastery by the use of 
objects and he organized a series of '* gifts " and occupa- 
tions " which interest and develop the child." 

Cygnaeus supplemented the Froebelian materials by 
giving the older children as well certain kinds of handwork 
such as joinery, turning, basket making, etc. These occupa- 
tions were designed to train the hand in developing a sense 
of form, and of aesthetics. The system of Cygnaeus had 
two fundamental characteristics : ( i ) it was for primary 
schools; (2) the occupation taught should not be regarded 
as preparation for a trade but always as a means towards 
formal and general education. In 1866, Finland made the 
system obligatory in all primary and normal schools. 

Russia copied and amended this system but did not put 
it into effect in the primary schools as in Finland, but in 
176 ' [^82 



383] MANUAL TRAINING I77 

the Technical Institutes which admitted only boys of 18 
and over. The system was sub-divided and the tools, and 
the material used in the construction of the article were each 
studied. There was no intention of giving training for 
specific industries. The work was designed solely to train 
the eye and hand, and to develop accuracy. 

The Russian educational exhibit at the Centennial Exposi- 
tion, Philadelphia, in 1876, contained a full account of the 
methods practised in the Imperial Institute and illustrated 
the system with sets of models and other materials. This 
exhibit attracted a great deal of attention and brought the 
movement into our educational life. The movement was at 
first called '' sloid " (its name in Sweden) but Professor 
Woodward of St. Louis gave it the name of *' manual train- 
ing " which was generally adopted. 

President John D. Runkle of the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology was an enthusiastic propagandist of this new 
movement, and due to his efforts tool instruction was es- 
tablished at M. I. T. in 1877. Due to the work of Pro^ 
f essor Woodward, a Manual Training School was started in 
St. Louis in 1880 and from then on the movement gained 
ground rapidly. 

The adherents of the old cultural education and the sup- 
porters of manual training engaged in spirited discussion 
over the merits of the system. The former claimed that 
manual training was not educative and that it should not be 
introduced into the curriculum. The latter argued that 
education should be for life and that manual education was 
as truly cultural and preparatory as was literary education 
itself. 

Slowly but surely manual training began to gain ground. 
The National Education Association became more and more 
friendly to the idea. Various schools began to introduce 
it into their curricula and industrial drawing in particular 



178 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [384 

became a common subject in the high school curriculum. 
New manual training schools sprang up in St. Louis 
Chicago, Toledo, and Louisville. New Jersey in 1885 en- 
couraged the spread of manual training by offering to 
duplicate the appropriation of any annual sum from $500 
up to $5000 by any locality. In the late eighties, Massachu- 
setts made it obligatory upon every city of 25,000 or over 
to provide manual training in the high school system.^ 

As manual training developed it grew to have quite dif- 
ferent principles from those which the founder Cygnaeus 
had worked out: (i) as in Russia, it was used chiefly in 
the high schools and not in the primary, but also (2) it 
came to have a distinct commercial purpose. It was used in 
part as a means of training workmen for their industrial 
life, if not for their specific trade. 

Manual training was taught in the high schools in three 
ways : (a) It was taught as a part of the general curriculum, 
which all high school students must study. The reluctance 
of teachers to admit manual training to the high school cur- 
riculum and their indifference and hostility towards it after 
admission made this system difficult of administration. The 
teachers selected to conduct the manual training courses 
were not only often out of sympathy with the subject but 
were in many instances incapable of teaching it. (b) It 
was taught as a separate course of study in the general 
high school, parallel to the college preparatory, the English 
and the business courses. Here greater cohesiveness was 
given to manual training, and since the department was 
differentiated from the others, greater specialization could 

^ For the early history of manual training in this country, see H. Ross 
Smith, " Development of Manual Education in the U. S.," 8th Annual 
Report of Commissioner of Labor, 1892, pp. 14-79; Report Commissioner 
of Education, 1893-4, vol. i, pp. 877-949; Report Commissioner of Edu- 
cation, 1903, vol. i, pp. 1019-1041. 



^85] MANUAL TRAINING 179 

result, (c) It was taught in an independent high sch(X)l 
devoted to manual training alone. Cultural studies were 
present in the curriculum but they were subordinated. 
These independent schools were established because: (i) 
the traditions of existing high schools were antagonistic 
to manual training. (2) Since manual training required a 
longer school day than ordinary high school work, the 
manual student would be compelled to stay at school longer 
than his fellow students in other departments. This inevit- 
ably caused dissatisfaction and made pupils reluctant to 
enter the manual training department. In a school within 
which hours were uniform this difficulty could not arise. 
(3) A concentration of interest would result from isolat- 
ing the manual training work. (4) There would be a con- 
centration of administration and responsibility. Undoubt- 
edly the main reason was in order to get the schools out of 
the hands of the educators who disliked practical studies and 
to get them into the hands of those who were sympathetic 
to the movement. 

This movement of manual training from a study within 
the high schools to separate schools of its own was not 
strictly chronological. Some manual training high schools 
were started independently at an early date/ but the general 
movement tended to pass through these three stages. The 
number of independent manual training high schools in- 
creased from 15 in 1894 with 3,300 students to 40 in 1897 
with 13,900 students.^ This development illustrates the 
biological principle that function precedes structure. 

Manual training thus came to be used to train workmen 
as well as to give general education. For a long time, the 
supporters of manual training protested that this was not 

' Notably the St. Louis manual training school which was founded in 
1879. 
^Report Cow. of Educ, 1906, vol. ii, pp. 1043. 



l8o INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [386 

true. Professor Woodward declared in 1890 that " In 
a manual training school the aim is not the narrow one of 
\t2ivmr\g a trade. Neither is dexterity sought in special 
operations which may be only small parts of even a trade. 
The object of every feature is education in a broad and 
high sense. Its influence is subjective. In the case of tools, 
intelligent use, rather than dexterity, is aimed at. Some 
one has suggested that manual culture was a better name 
than manual training in as much as the manual features take 
on so clearly the form of culture." ^ 

Despite these protestations, however, manual training 
came to be regarded as a means of industrial training. It was 
used not to train boys for a specific trade but to give an all- 
round mechanical education w^hich would greatly increase 
their industrial efficiency. In 1903, Professor Woodward 
himself stated " by multiplying manual training schools we 
solve the problem of training all the mechanics our country- 
needs." ■ This last statement shows how the idea of 
mechanical education had permeated the system of manual 
training and had changed the earlier conception of manual 
training as a cultural subject only. 

This development of manual training away from its 
original purpose was caused by three forces : 

I. In the Scandinavian countries woodwork had been 
the chief form of manual training. When introduced into 
this country, it was applied to metals as well. Wood 
lends itself to tool manipulation since the pupil through the 
use of the tools acquires dexterity and co-ordination of 
eye and muscle. Steel, however, does not lend itself so 

* Calvin M. Woodward, Manual Training in Education, pp. 61-68, 
'C. M. Woodward, "Manual Industrial and Technical Education in 

the United States," chap, xix in the Re fort of the Commissioner of 

Education for 1903, vol. i, p. 1039. 



387] MANUAL TRAINING 181 

readily to this purpose. Here the machine and not the 
tool becomes more practicable. With this comes the sub- 
ordination of the individual. No longer is he the craftsman 
but he is now merely the unleasher of objective power. Cul- 
tural education diminishes while the mastery over machine 
processes increases. Consequently, vocational education, 
steals in unawares. 

2. The creation of the independent manual training high 
school freed the movement from the cultural spirit. Once 
independent, the theory that manual training should be 
merely cultural became weaker and it was but natural that 
vocational education should make a stronger appeal. When 
fighting for its life, manual-training adherents could not 
declare too pronounced views lest the whole movement be 
swept away. 

3. The industrial condition of the time was more funda- 
mental than either of these two factors. Apprenticeship 
had long since been on the wane. Skilled workmen were 
needed for the upper grades of machine labor. There was 
a real dearth of competent foremen and machinists. What 
was more natural than that the employing class should try to 
capture the manual training movement and make it an 
organ which would satisfy their needs for skilled labor? 
The separation of manual training from the literary educa- 
tion of the day made it possible to take hold of these schools 
and help dictate their policy. Indeed the business and com- 
mercial interests often played the part of educational mid- 
wife and assisted at the birth of many of these independent 
schools and were strong believers in their separation from 
other high schools. The manual training schools of St. 
Louis, Chicago, and Cleveland, indeed owed their creation 
almost entirely to the interest of the business classes.^ 

^ Commissioner of Education, 1893-4, vol. i, pp. 884-885, 889-890 
£ind 893. 



l82 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [388 

Manual training was not, however, confined to the high 
schools alone. It spread into the elementary grades as well. 
In 1908 there were 502 cities which gave manual training 
in the public schools.^ This form of manual training was 
really the result of two influences, (a) the spreading down- 
ward of manual training from the high schools, (b) the 
spreading upward from the kindergarten. The vocational 
features of manual training disappeared in this process and 
in the elementary grades it was purely cultural. 

The total number of students given some form of manual 
training has steadily increased. This development is best 
shown by several tables. 

We shall first consider the number of separate manual 
training schools and their total enrollment. 

Number of Public Training Schools of High School Grade - 
Year Number Enrollment 

1894 15 3,362 

1895 15 4892 

1897 40 13,890 

1913 51 50,975 

Thus while the number of schools has increased about three- 
fold the number of students has increased fifteen-fold. 

These figures do not measure the total number receiving 
manual training. In 191 3, there were 200 additional 
manual and industrial training schools with a total atten- 
dance of 82,839.^ Of this number, 52,870 were students 
of secondary rank receiving instruction in the manual arts. 
The remainder who received manual traininsf were elemen- 
tary pupils. 



'fc» 



1 Report Commissioner of Education, 1900-09, vol. ii, pp. 1046-49. 

'^Report Com. of Educ, 1906, vol. ii, p. 1050; Report Com. of Educ, 
1913, vol. ii, p. 517- 
^Report Com-, of Educ, 1913, vol. ii, p. 552. 



^Sg-j MANUAL TRAINING 183 

Nor is this all. Manual training courses have continued 
to be given to an increasing degree, in the regular public 
high schools. In 19 13, 1,167 public high schools had 
50,543 students in manual training courses/ 

In 19 1 3, therefore, the following number were receiving- 
some f onn of manual training in secondary institutions : 

Institution Number Percentage of Total 

1. Public Manual Training High Schools 50,975 33.0 

2. Manual and Industrial Training Schools 52,870 34.2 

3. Public High Schools 5o,453 3-2.8 

Total 154,298 loo.o 

The relative numerical importance of these schools is there- 
fore equal. The 51 high schools devoted to manual train- 
ing had as many students in manual training as the [,167 
high schools giving some manual training courses. 
The distribution by sex of thece students follows * 

Institution Boys Girls Total 

1. Public Manual Training High Schools .. 32,134 18,841 50,975 

2. Manual and Industrial Training Schools 35,264 17,606 52,870 

3. Public High Schools 43,821 6,632 50,443 

Total 111,219 43.079 154.298 

Percentage 72.1 27.9 lOo.o 

Nearly three-quarters of the students of manual training are 
therefore boys. 

Manual training is especially strong in the North Atlantic 
States. The following table shows this most clearly : 

Number of Schools ^ of Number of Pupils 5« of 

in North Atlantic Total in North Atlantic Total 

States Number States Number 

1. Public Manual Train- 

ing High Schools . . 18 35.3 24,215 47.5 

2. Manual and Industrial 

Training Schools . . 92 46.0 53,8o5 68.4 

1 Report Com. of Ednc, 1913, vol. ii, pp. 498-516. 



i84 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [390 

Nearly one-half the students in the specialized manual train- 
ing high schools and over two-thirds of the students in 
manual and industrial schools are residents of the North 
Atlantic States. They are indeed residents of a specialized 
section of the North Atlantic States. Since the upper tier 
of the New England States had no special schools for 
manual training, all the students in this group came 
from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

Manual training has not proved a solution of the problem 
of industrial education nor can it. We have seen that the 
vocational purpose was an afterthought, grafted upon an 
educational system originally designed as purely cultural. 
Manual training courses in public high schools have been 
too often farcical as regards adequate preparation for in- 
dustry. Only a few hours a week are devoted to them ; the 
equipment is scanty; the teachers are ill-trained. Work is 
generally confined to carpentry, cabinet making, and wood- 
work in general. Little or no' attention is paid to other 
branches of industry. Moreover, the work is done on a 
handicraft rather than upon a machine basis. A great deal 
of care is lavished upon the production of one article and 
the fact that the machine industr}^ demands quantitative 
rather than qualitative production is neglected. 

Nor have the specialized manual-training high schools 
been more successful. Here facilities are better but still 
inadequate. In 19 12 the expenditure per student in these 
schools for tools was only approximately $2.00 for the year 
and a similar amount for materials. Certainly not much 
trade knowledge could be acquired with such equipment. As 
Dr. David Snedden says, '* the spirit of approach has been 
that of the amateur or dilettante rather than of the person 
interested in obtaining vocational fitness." ^ 

^ David Snedden, The Problem of Vocational Education, p. 43. 



391 J 



MANUAL TRAINING 



18:; 



Manual training has been ineffective, moreover, because it 
has not reached the class who most need industrial educa- 
tion. Since it has been practically confined to the high 
schools, the children of the poorer class have been debarred 
from whatever benefits it may possess. It is in the main 
only the soft-handed class that can afford to keep their 
children in school for the entire high school course. The 
high school pupils who do study manual training are, con- 
sequently, being prepared for occupations they will never 
enter. 

The following statistics covering the life occupations of 
graduates of five large manual-training high schools in 
Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston and Cambridge show how 
useless training has been as a means of providing skilled 
workers for the trades.^ 



Occupations Number 

Students 287 

Clerks 282 

Draftsmen 215 

Superintendents, managers, 

foremen 198 

Merchants and Manufac- 

turers 160 

Gvil Engineers 115 

Salesmen 95 

Electrical Work 91 

Teachers 79 

Lawyers 6^ 

Physicians 58 

Architects 53 

Machinists 52 

Ekctrical Engineers 48 

Mechanical Engineers 36 

Chemists 33 



Occupations Number 

Artists and Engravers 32 

Railroad men 22 

Bookkeepers 20 

Dentists 13 

Surveyors 13 

Inspectors 12 

Newspaper Men 12 

Designers 12 

Insurance Agents 8 

Contractors 5 

Plumbers 5 

Druggists 4 

Opticians 4 

Carpenters 4 

Clergymen 3 

Pattern-makers 3 

Unclassified and without 

occupation 400 



Total 2437 



^Report Mass. Commission on Industrial and Technical Education, 
1906, p. 196. 



l86 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [392 

Thus, only 168 or 6.9% of the total number of graduates 
went into mechanical work. The electrical and mechanical 
engineers, the machinists, railroad men, plumbers and 
carpenters were alone in going into occupations for which 
their manual training was designed to prepare. In spite 
of all the courses given in wood-working, only four, or two- 
tenths of one percent, became carpenters. 

As a system of vocational education manual training has 
therefore been a failure. It has lately been found that it 
may have great value as a part of a system of prevocational 
education whereby the pupil may become better acquainted 
with his aptitudes and better able to make a rational choice 
of occupation. Under this plan, manual training ceases to 
be chiefly a high school study but becomes an integral part 
of the curriculum in the grades.^ 

^ See Leavitt and Brown. Pre-vocational Education in the Public 
Schools, pp. 20-24. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Trade and Industrial Schools 

Trade schools may be divided into two classes: (i) 
Public and eleemosynary trade schools. (2) Commercially 
conducted trade schools. 

Trade schools aim to prepare for specialized trades. Un- 
like manual training schools, they are definitely vocational 
in purpose; cultural training is negligible and attention is 
concentrated upon the specific trade for which the pupil is 
being prepared. They are designed as a substitute for ap- 
prenticeship/ are generally open only to boys and girls over 
16 years of age, and are based upon the theory that indus- 
trial training is better given in the school than in the shop. 

The trade-school movement for manual training and has 
passed through two stages: (a) Private trade schools, (b) 
Public trade schools. 

The New York Trade School, founded by Col. Richard 
T. Auchmuty in 1881, was the first of its kind in America. 
Courses were given in brick-laying, plastering, plumbing, 
carpentry, house, sign and fresco painting, stone-cutting, 
blacksmithing, tailoring, and printing. The bricklaying and 
tailoring trades were especially well taught." 

The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades in 

^See iTth Annual Report of the Comm. of Labor, 1902, p. 10. 
** Training in trade schools is intended to supply the place of the old- 
time apprenticeship which has nearly disappeared under the conditions 
of present day industry." 

- For a description of these courses see 8th Annual Report, U. S. 
Comm. of Labor, 1892, pp. 80-83. 

3931 187 



igg INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [394 

Delaware County, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1888 and 
opened in 1891. The founder declared that the abandon- 
ment of the apprenticeship system and the failure of the 
public school system to devise a substitute necessitated the 
institution of a school that would train poor and deserving 
boys for the mechanical trades. The benefits of the school 
including board, instruction and clothing for the entire 
course were made absolutely free for all students. This 
necessitates a thorough winnowing of the candidates for 
admission, in order to obtain the most worthy. The pupils 
are formally apprenticed to the Board of Trustees for the 
period they are in the school. 

The following trades were taught in 19 10: bricklaying, 
carpentry, stationary engineering, machinists, pattern-mak- 
ing. The graduates of this school during the years 1905- 
1909 totaled 268, of whom 91% w^ere actually engaged in 
the mechanical trades. 

The Baron de Hirsch Trade School was founded in 1891 
from the endowment of the Baron de Hirsch Fund. Can- 
didates for admission must be Jew^s and must be at least 16 
years of age. Among the trades taught are those of the 
machinists trade, plumbing, electrical work, carpentry, and 
house, fresco and sign painting. The school work here is 
not designed as a complete substitute for apprenticeship but 
is rather intended as a partial preparation for the trades. 

Other private schools founded before 1900 were, (a) 
The California School of Mechanical Arts in 1895. This 
gives training in the pattern-making, forging, and machin- 
ists trades, (b) The Wilmerding School of Industrial Arts. 
This was founded '*to teach boys trades, fitting them to 
make a living with their hands, with little study and plenty 
of work." This school is closely affiliated with the Cali- 
fornia School. Work is given in carpentry, brick-laying, 
plumbing, tinning, the electrical trades and cabinet making. 



^^2] TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 189 

(c) The trade school department of Pratt Institute, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. This gives trade instruction in several 
branches, notably carpentry, plumbing, pattern-making, and 
machine practice and tool-making, (d) The Miller School 
of Albemarle, Virginia. This gives trade instruction in 
the later years of a general educational course. 

Private schools started after 1900 include the Manual 
Training and Industrial School of New London, Conn., in 
1903;^ the Winona Technical Institute of Indianapolis, 
Indiana, in 1904; the Milwaukee School of Trades in 1906; 
and the David Ranken School of Mechanical Trades in St. 
Louis, Mo., in 1909. 

All of these schools have been established by private en- 
dowment and are outside the public school system. Em- 
phasis was completely placed on the vocational aspect and 
general education was in the main neglected. 

In 1906 the era of publicly administered trade schools 
began." In this year the Philadelphia Board of Educa- 
tion established a public day trade school to be supported 
entirely from the public funds. In 1907 the Milwaukee 
School of Trades was taken into the public school system 
of Milwaukee. The Columbus, Ohio, Trades School was 
started in 1909 and trade instruction was given in printing 
and wood-working. In 1909, Buffalo, New York, instituted 
a public trade school, followed by Yonkers in 1910. Con- 
necticut in 1909 established at Bridgeport and New Britain 
two state-supported all-day trade schools. The Portland, 
Oregon, School of Trades was established in this period 
under the direction of the school board. 

1 This school was aided financially by the city but not controlled by it. 

'^The Newark Technical School was opened as early as 1885 under 
state administration and gave some trade courses. It was however so 
isolated and had so many other purposes in addition that it cannot 
1)e said to have initiated the movement. 



190 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [396 

In recent years Massachusetts has estabHshed a number of 
public trade schcK)ls. In 191 4, there were in that state nine 
trade schools for boys and three for girls/ In that year, 
yy2 girls were being trained for the trades of dress-making, 
millinery, power-machine operating, cutting and fitting, and 
cookery and sewing. In the same year, 1667 boys were 
being prepared for machine woodwork, cabinet making, 
carpentry, machine-shop work, printing, sheetmetal work, 
automobile manufacture, electrical work, pattern-making, 
and power plant engineering.^ 

This development of public trade schools creates certain 
essential differences. In the first place, more subjects of 
general educational value are introduced into the curriculum 
than was the case with private trade schols. English, civics, 
industrial history, geography, industrial hygiene, etc., are 
generally fotmd in public trade schools while they were 
largely non-existent in private. Another difference is that 
the public trade schools do not uniformly place the minimum 
age of entrance at 16 as do the private schools.^ 

Just as in a previous period, manual training had been 
expected to solve the problem of industrial education, so 
in the decade 1900-19 10, trade schools were thought to con- 
stitute the solution. The Annual Report of the Commis- 
sioner of Labor in 1902 praised the independent trade school 
and treated the problem as well on the way to solution.* The 

' Bulletin No. 5, Mass. Board of Education 191 4, " Massachusetts 
Independent Vocational Schools," p. 7. 

''Ihid., pp. 17-39- 

^ For a description of these various schools see the 25th Annual Report 
of the Commissioner of Labor, 1910, pp. 41-141. Also C. R. Richards^ 
"Some Notes on the History of Industrial Education in the U. S." 
In the Proceedings of the National Educational Assoc, for 1910, pp. 
678-79. 

* lyth Annual Report Commission of Labor, 1902, pp. 10-12. 



397] TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS igi 

Massachusetts Commission on Vocational Education, ap- 
pointed by Governor Douglas in 1906, in its report envisaged 
the trade school as the core of any adequate system of in- 
dustrial education. Arthur D. Dean in his book on The 
Worker and the State, a brilliant argument for industrial 
education, published in 1910, advocated trade schools as 
the fundamental basis of industrial education. Mr. Dean 
declared that '' the next step in education is clearly in the 
direction of building up a great system of public trade 
schools." ^ 

This belief in the efficacy of trade-school education was 
increased by the reports of certain educational " experts " 
about the hundreds of successful trade schools in Germany. 
Continental experience was appealed to in support of the 
system of training craftsmen in all-day trade schools. Un- 
fortunately, however, these *' experts" had misunderstood 
the real nature of the German trade schools and had taken 
them to be identical with those of the United States. 

When Dr. George Kirchensteiner, the celebrated Munich 
educator came to this country in 1910-1911, the fallacy of 
this comparison was shown. Dr. Kirchensteiner said, " If 
I seek to compare German Trade Schools I find that our 
higher trade schools most resemble your technical colleges. 
Only we must not forget that there is no transition con- 
templated from our higher trade schools to our technical 
universities and that one or two years practical work must 
be presented or taken in special preparatory courses before 
admittance to the school. 

*' Our numerotis lower trade schools hnve no counterpart 
in the United States. . . The trade schools of the United 
States are generally intended to take the place of apf^ren- 
ticeship. The German trade schools on the other hand are 

' Arthur D. Dean, The Worker and the State, p. 159. 



ig2 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [398 

intended^ with few exceptions, to make up for the deficien- 
cies of apprenticeship." ^ 

Only those who had had at least four years practical 
work were admitted to these German schools. Conse- 
quently only thoroughly trained workmen were received in 
them." The difference between this system and the x\mer- 
ican trades schools is thus clearly evident. Our trades 
schools were designed to give trade instruction in the schools 
and prepare men for the industries directly. German trade 
schools were designed merely to supplement the actual train- 
ing previously given by the industry itself. Therefore, 
while our trade schools were a substitute for apprenticeship, 
German schools were a supplement to it. 

A further quotation from Dr. Kirchensteiner brings this 
point out more clearly : "' Schools that replace apprenticeship 
are rare in Germany. In Austria and Switzerland schools 
of this kind have existed for the last twenty years, but dur- 
ing these twenty years they have remained at a standstill. 
Nor can I discover any strong inclination in these three 
countries to spend public money on such schools." ^ Other 
studies of the German system of industrial education only 
confirm Dr. Kirchensteiner's statements.* 

When one examines the situation, the relatively small 
number of trade schools that have come into being since 
1 881 is especially striking. Several philanthropic men have 
endowed such trade schools and the public has started several 
more, but the total number is relatively insignificant. In 

* Dr. George Kirchensteiner, Three Lectures on Vocational Training, 
pp. 47-48. The italics are mine. 

^Ibid., p. 32. 

^Ihid., p. 47. 

* See Holmes Beckwith, " German Industrial Education and its Lessons 
for the United States," Bull. No. IQ U. S. Bureau of Education, 1913, 
pp. 49-131 ; George E. Myers. " Problems of Vocational Education in 
Germany," Bull. No. 33, U. S. Bureau of Education, 191 5, pp. 7-35. 



^gg-^ TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 193 

191 1, after thirty years of agitation and example, there were 
not more than fifteen such schools and today there are prob- 
ably few over twenty, while the number of graduates 
turned out is almost negligible in comparison with our 
industrial population. 

California for example has two splendid trade schools 
yet these are woefully inadequate in supplying her with 
journeymen. The California Bureau of Labor Statistics 
declared in 1904 that " The number of journeymen in Cali- 
fornia engaged in the occupations covered by the curriculum 
of the Lick and Wilmerding schools is approximately 30,290. 
The average number of students graduating yearly from 
these schools is about 30 or approximately one to every 
thousand journeymen."^ In 1912, Mr. H. E. Miles stated 
that the total regular students in all the trades schools in the 
country were fewer than 2,000 and that the number gradu- 
ated by these schools was approximately 700 a year." 

The number today is undoubtedly somewhat greater. 
The Massachusetts trades schools alone have 2,400 pupils. 
Since the twelve Massachusetts schools comprise approx- 
imately one-half of the total number of trade schools, and 
since most of the other schools have about the same atten- 
dance as the Massachusetts schools it is safe tO' conclude 
that there are today not far from 5,000 students in the 
public and private trade schools of the country. 

Such a number is plainly inadequate for a system that was 
designed to take the place of apprenticeship. Moreover, the 
number of trade schools is not increasing and shews no signs 
of growth. Although they have had nearly thirty years 
time, they have failed to perform their mission. The reasons 
why they have failed in the past are furthermore reasons 
why they must fail in the future. 

^ Report of the California Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1904, p. 29. 
^ H. E. ]\liles, Proceedings National Educ. Assoc., 1913, p. 963. 



194 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [400 

( I ) The first great reason for their failure is the heavy 
expense. The cost to the individuals who attend these 
schools is heavy. An all-day trade school necessarily keeps 
the boy and giv\ from work and they must consequently 
sacrifice the wage they otherwise could earn. Since the 
school commonly admits only those over 16 years of age, this 
potential wage is of considerable amount. If we compute 
the average weekly wage as $8.00, the yearly earnings would 
be $416, minus time lost through unemployment. It is a 
real sacrifice for most working-class families to forego these 
earnings and \vt cannot expect many boys to give up this 
money in order to continue in school. 

The cost, however, is heavy not only for the pupils and 
for their families but also for society itself. A trade 
school necessitates a somewhat expensive building, elaborate 
technical equipment and costly materials upon which the 
student must practice. In order to give efficient training, it 
must make itself into something like a shop, and this cannot 
be done cheaply. The actual cost per pupil is a difficult 
matter to ascertain and the statistics are not available to 
give an exact statement, but some incidental figures illustrate 
the point. The yearly expense per student in the William- 
son School of Mechanical Trades, for instance, is over 
$300.00, while in the David Ranken school the yearly 
cost is $228.00 per capita.^ According to the supervisor 
of industrial education in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the cost 
per student in the Public Trade School of that city is ap- 
proximately $250.00 a year.- Mr. Miles' statement that the 
yearly cost of instruction per pupil ranges between $200.00 

^Report of Canadian Royal Comm. on Indus. Training and Technical 
Education, pt. iii, vol. ii, p. 1414. 

'D. F. Perry in the Eleventh Year Book of the National Society for 
the Study of Education, 1912, p. 83. 



401 ] TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 195 

and $300.00 seems, therefore, to be a fair and conservative 
estimate/ 

Many of the trade schools have tried to reduce the ex- 
pense by economizing on the use of materials and tools. 
This economy necessarily has lowered the quality of train- 
ing given since a good school cannot have poor equipment. 
If trade training in the schools is desired, the community 
must pay the cost. 

(2) The trade schools, moreover, have failed of their 
purpose not only because of the expense to those trained and 
to the state, but also because the school cannot, in the very 
nature of things, adequately prepare a boy to enter industry 
as a skilled worker. The trade school cannot be a substi- 
tute for apprenticeship, because the school cannot take the 
place of the shop. The shop is essentially dynamic ; goods 
are being made and sold and the test of efficiency is applied 
to action. The school is essentially static, there is an in- 
evitable air of business unreality about the work carried on. 
Try as teachers or students may, the feeling that they are 
playing at work rather than working is almost unescapable. 

To avoid this, many trade schools have adopted the policy 
of disposing of their product commercially. It is be- 
lieved by many that production for sale will cause greater 
efficiency and an approach to actual shop conditions. It is 
urged, moreover, that the sale of the product will lessen the 
net expense of the school. 

Among the schools that have consistently followed out 
this policy are the Manhattan Trade School for girls in 
New York,^ the Milwaukee Trades School,^ and the 



^ H. E. Miles, Proceedings of First Annual Convention of the National 
Association of Corporation Schools, p. 275. 

'See Violet Coen, "Shop Methods and the Utilization of Product," 
Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Convention of the National Soc. 
Promot. Indust. Educ, pp. 215-219. 

' Charles F. Perry in the Eleventh Year Book of the Nat. Soc. for the 
Study of Education, p. 85. 



jq5 industrial education [402 

Bridgeport Trades School. Schools that do not market 
their product include the Williamson School of Mechanical 
Trades, the David Ranken School, the New York Trade 
School, and the Baron de Hirsch Trade School. 

Some of the objections to the selling of the product are 
speedily disposed of. One objection is tliat since no wages 
are paid, the school product can and will undersell products 
competitively produced, and that workers and enterprizers 
will consequently be forced out of business. The sale of 
school-made goods does present, though in a much lesser 
degree, the same danger as the sale of prison-made goods. 
It can however easily be met. Selling only at market price 
as is done in Milwaukee is one solution, while still better 
is that of city or state use of the products so manufactured. 
Either of these methods prevents the market from being 
.swamped with the products of " cheap labor." 

(3) There are other objections, however, which are more 
-weighty. Commercial products manufactured in the school 
are of two kinds : ( i ) articles made up in logical sequence 
during the course in trade experience and afterwards sold ; 
(2) orders received from customers, which are filled regard- 
less as to whether or not they fit into the course of study 
prescribed. The difference between these two plans largely 
consists in that the former makes the commercial disposal 
.of the product merely an incident and does not allow it to 
interfere with the prescribed course of study, while the latter 
lays greater stress upon the marketing of the product and 
makes the course of study dependent upon the orders re- 
ceived. The first plan presents few dangers, the latter 

many. 

Under the latter plan, the school virtually imitates the 
shop. Production for sale tends to become the predominant 
purpose. The director becomes anxious to make profits and 
to turn out marketable products which meet the favor of the 



403] TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 197 

trade. In so doing the original purpose of trade schools 
tends to be neglected. The production of goods rather 
than the production of skilled artisans is emphasized. The 
changing of boys about from one kind of work to another 
is inimical to production for profit and the result is that 
they are often confined to one or a few lines of work. This 
is financially profitable for the school but not educationally 
profitable for the boy. A boy must be taught all varieties 
of work before he can master a trade. Such teaching is, 
however, as we have seen, costly, and the temptation to con- 
fine him to one job is great, but wherever he is so- confined, 
he is being treated as a worker not as a student. 

'' Rush orders" present somewhat similar dangers. The 
continuity of work is broken and the student's attention 
is concentrated upon the production of an article which is 
not pedagogically connected with the work he has previously 
been doing. Furthermore, the speed with which the work 
must be done is apt to be injurious to the skill of the 
student. 

The dangers of this kind of commercial production are 
great. They may be avoided by alert and determined direc- 
tors,^" but they are always a menace. It is difficult if not 
impossible for a trade school to seek both profit and trade 
training.- If it holds to the first, it must neglect the second. 
The primary purpose of a trade school is not to turn out 
commercial material but to teach trades. 

Nor does the sale of the product materially diminish the 
expense. The Milwaukee trade school sells its product 

^See E. E. McNary, "If Commercial Articles are Produced How 
Should the Educational Value of the Training be Safe-guarded,'* 
Proceedings Eighth Annual Convention of the Nat. Soc. for Proniot. of 
Industrial Ed%i£ation, pp. 149-152. 

'See Lewis Gustafson, " Longer Course Schools for Training iSuperior 
Workmen," Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Convention Nat. Soc. 
Pro mot. Industrial Education, pp. 190-192. 



198 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [404 

yet its annual expense per student is approximately $250.00.^ 
Thus in trying to avoid the unreality of the school training 
by selling the product, new dangers are created. 

(4) There are other factors however which inevitably 
make the school an inadequate place to teach a trade. Even 
though the product be commercially sold, the elimination of 
waste is rarely carried to the degree that it is in the shop 
itself. Moreover usually only simple trades can be taught 
as the appliances necessary to teach a complicated trade are 
so costly as to make them prohibitive. Most schools for 
boys confine themselves mainly to the building, and the 
machinists trades; and for girls to the dressmaking and 
millinery trades. The trades schools have therefore not 
touched the problems of other trades outside of these few. 
The expense of equipment is such that it inevitably confines 
their activities to certain narrow limits. 

(5) Another obstacle exists even in those trades w^herein 
training is given, namely that of keeping the school equip- 
ment up to date. Modern competitive industry scraps its 
machines quickly. It discards them if better ones are in- 
vented. A school finds it impossible to keep pace. In 
consequence it is common for the trade school to be teaching 
trades to boys wath obsolete equipment. Such students will 
not be able to practice their trades efficiently when they enter 
industrial life as it is. 

One justification for trades schools often urged is that they 
can prepare for specific local trades. There is, of course, 
a great deal of geographical specialization in the United 
States. Thus, the shoe industr}^ is concentrated in the cities 
of Haverhill, Lynn and Brockton, Massachusetts; shoe 
machinery construction in Beverly, Massachusetts; glove 
making in Gloversville and Johnstown, New York ; the silk 
industry in Paterson, New Jersey, and the coal towns of 

* C. F. Perry, op. cit., p. 80. 



405] TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 199 

Pennsylvania; automobiles in Detroit and Flint, Michigan, 
and in Indianapolis, Indiana; furniture in Grand Rapids, 
Michigan; collars and shirts in Troy, New York; cheap 
jewelry in x\ttleboro, Massachusetts; locomotives in Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania, and Schenectedy, New York; ready- 
made clothing in New York City, Chicago, and Rochester; 
and talking machines in Camden, New Jersey. 

What is more natural, it is claimed, than that each of 
these towns should start a trade school to prepare for their 
local industry. This belief, however, rests in part on the 
assumption that the young men will continue to stay in the 
same city where they were educated. There is, however, 
no such permanence in American industrial life, since 
American workers change their residence quite frequently. 
The Russell Sage Foundation found that only 16% of over 
22,000 men investigated in 78 different cities, and that only 
one-quarter of the i\merican born, were then living in 
the same city in which they were born. A trade school pre- 
paring boys for local trades would not then be primarily pre- 
paring them for their life-career. The boys and girls 
should not be trained in an industry which few of them 
will later enter. If any trade training is given it should 
be in industries which are nationwide not local. ^ 

Because of these inherent defects, not only are trades 
schools not increasing in number but those that do exist 
are finding their greatest development in other than their 
original purpose. The David Ranken School in St. Louis 
is giving special attention to apprentices who are learning 
the trades in the shop. Apprentices in the plastering and 
sheet-metal trades are given supplementary instruction in 
the David Ranken School.^ This trade school has there- 

^ L. P. Ayres, Some Conditions affecting Problems of Industrial Edu- 
cation in Seventy-eight American School Systems, p. 7. 

- Lewis Gustafson, " The Recognition of Industrial Education in 
Apprentices by Organized Labor," Proceedings of the Eighth Annual 
Conv. Nat. Soc. Prom. Industrial Education, pp. 134-43. 



200 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [408 

fore changed from the original purpose of replacing ap- 
prenticeship to supplementing it/ 

2. Commercially Coitducted Trade Schools. 

Public and elementary trade schools form but a small 
percentage of the total number of trade schools. Trade 
schools that are conducted for profit form the vast majority. 
This type of trade school followed in the wake of the 
private business schools. It differs from the latter in that 
it teaches occupations other than the purely commercial ones 
of stenography, typewriting and bookkeeping. 

No one can estim^ate how many such schools there are. 
They are not subject to inspection and in consequence official 
statistics are almost w^holly lacking. They are found in the 
out-of-the-way corners of cities, and are often unknown by 
the community about them. Many of them evanescent, 
some are going out of business and others entering. 

Some investigations, however, show^ hew numerous they 
are. In 191 5 there were in Chicago alone, 46 commercially 
conducted trades schools. Nine of these wxre automobile 
schools ; six taught dressmaking and design ; four milliner)- ; 
three motion-picture operating ; two barbering ; a,nd two com-, 
ptometer operating.^ In Minneapolis, Minnesota, there were 
in 1 91 6, 14 such private schools with an annual attendance 
of approximately 2000.^ The trades taught included tele- 
graphy, tractor operating, window-dressing, barbering, auto- 
mobile driving, pharmacy, '' beauty culture," dress-making, 
and sewing. The total income of twelve of these schools 

* Lewis Gustafson, "Experts cannot be trained in school alone. Ex- 
perts must come from a combination of school and trade experience," 
ibid., p. 192. 

'Caroline Bengsten, "Private Trade Schools in Chicago," Manual 
Traming and Vocational Education, vol. xvii, pp. 497-510, March, 1916. 

'"Report of the MinneapoHs Survey for Vocational Education,"^ 
Bull. 21, Nat. So£. Promot. Indtist. Educ, see chart p. 122. 



407] TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 201 

was over $84,00x3 per year. The tuition fee ranged from 
$20 to $100 but averaged about $50.^ 

Such figures indicate what a vast number of these trade 
schools already exist in the country as a whole. 2000 would 
probably be a conservative estimate of their number. 

Though some of these schools are highly efficient, many 
are exceedingly poor. On the whole they are wasteful and 
inadequate and do not teach the trade properly. Much of 
their expense is competitive. In order to- attract students 
and to enroll them, advertising and " baits " are necessary. 
Advertisements in the daily papers, circulars, commissions 
for securing students, discounts for cash pa}Tnents of tuition 
and promises to secure positions for graduates are common 
practices.' A large part of the tuiton fee is thus devoted 
to these competitive expenditures instead of being devoted 
to trade training itself. Practically all these expenses 
would disappear in a well articulated public system where 
competition for students was not necessary for existence. 

The equipment of the trade school is such moreover that 
in most cases it cannot give adequate instruction. Thus, 
the equipment of one school in Minneapolis teaching tractor 
operating was absolutely w^orthless, while two dress-making 
schools had only about $100 worth of equipment apiece. 
Many of the Chicago schools had no facilities for teaching 
the trades they pretended to teach. Even the best schools 
cannot afford the costly apparatus necessar}^ to instruct 
students. Even in the best of schools, the instruction given 
is intensely specialized. Trade training and nothing else is 
given while civics, economics and English are eliminated. 

Such a system suffers from all the evils of profiteering. 
The aim of the proprietors is primarily that of immediate 

^ The capital equipment of these schools was estimated at about $50,000 
and the number of instructors totaled 75. 

^Caroline Bengsten, op. cit. 



202 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [408 

profits, not that of thorough training. If the student has 
more money, he is generally urged to take an additional 
course to perfect himself in the details of the trade. If his 
money is exhausted, he is hurried out. The inevitable ten- 
dency is to shorten the course so that a fresh batch of 
students may be secured. Thus, schools for barbers 
'' teach " the trade in six weeks, automobile schools in two 
months but the graduates of such schools are only '' quarter- 
baked " workmen. 

Vicious as most of these private schools are they have 
arisen because of a real need. The breakdown of appren- 
ticeship threw the burden of training the upper class of 
workers upon other agencies. The public school system, 
swayed as it w^as by tradition, responded so slowly that it 
did not meet the need of the age. Individuals were quick 
to see the opportunity and to bend it to their advantage. 
They started schools as business undertakings to supply 
these workmen. They were far from ideal but they 
bridged the gap. They did it expensively and wastefully, 
they gave insufficient preparation but they did give some 
trade training, even though slight. They cannot, however, 
be a permanent solution. 

There is however another grave defect in addition to 
those already mentioned. The tuition fee of $50 or over is 
sufficient to bar out the largest section of our working 
population. Therefore, if private trade schools were to 
be relied on, we would be perpetuating a caste organization 
of industrial society and would prevent children of the 
lower strata from rising in the industrial scale. 

5. Technical High Schools. 

These schools differ from trade schools proper in the fol- 
lowing ways : ( I ) They educate their pupils for different 
ranks in industry. Whereas trade schools were designed to 



409] TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 203 

turn out ordinary skilled workmen, technical high schools aim 
to train for positions above this lower level. Their industrial 
purpose is therefore to provide the non-commissioned of- 
ficers of industry and not, like the trade schools, to be a mere 
substitute for apprenticeship. Because of this difference 
the curriculum of the technical high schools is not as narrow 
as that of the trade schools. Subjects of more general in- 
terest, such as history, economics, and English are treated 
and mathematics forms an important part of the curriculum. 

(2) Technical high schools admit students at a different 
age than do trade schools. Almost uniformly trade schools 
fix the age of entrance at 16. Since technical high schools 
are an integral part of a city's public school system, they 
must take the g-raduates from the grammar grades without 
regard to age. 

It is sometimes said that the purpose of the technical high 
school should be to prepare students for colleges of engineer- 
ing. This duty however can be performed equally well 
by the ordinary high school. Others declare it should give 
general education with some practical work, but this function 
in turn is performed at present by the manual training high 
schools. Neither of these purposes would justify the exist- 
ence of separate technical high schools. As Mr. Bogan says 
training for some form of industrial leadership should be 
the dominating purpose of the technical high school.^ 

Several cities have adopted these specialized high schools 
as a part of the public school system. Notable among such 
schools are the Lane Technical School and the Harrison 
Technical School of Chicago, the Stuyvesant High School 
of New York City, the East and West Technical High 

* William J. Bogan, " What is the True Place and Purpose of the 
Technical High School in the American Public School System?" Pro- 
ceedings Sixth Coniention, National Society Promoi. Industrial Edu- 
cation, p. 188. 



204 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [410 

Schools of Cleveland, Ohio, and the Cass Technical High 
School of Detroit, Michigan. These schools do not confine 
themselves to one particular trade but instead teach several.^ 

Since trade preparation, not college preparation, is their 
chief purpose, two and three year courses are offered as 
well as the customary four year course. 

These schools have undoubtedly retained many children 
in school who otherwise would have left. The population 
of Cleveland, Ohio during the decade of 19001910, increased, 
by above 18,000 people annually. Nevertheless during the 
years 1906-8 the High School enrollment did not increase, 
being 4,873 in 1906 and 4879 in 1908. Three vocational 
high schools were instituted from 1908 to 191 2. One of 
these was a commercial high school, while the other two 
were technical high schools. The enrollment in the Cleve- 
land High Schools in 191 2 was 7,800 or a gain of nearly 
3,000 pupils in four years. This increase had indeed almost 
entirety taken place in the vocational schools. The technical 
schools gained 17% in the year 1911-1912 while the acad- 
emic high schools gained only 6%." 

The technical high school cannot, however, give ad- 
vanced work adequately because it cannot successfully imi- 
tate shop conditions. The difficulty of getting the students 
to treat production seriously, the attendant waste of mater- 
ials, the lack of speed and the minimization of quantitative 
production all hamper the work. 

Such schools moreover encounter the same economic dif- 
ficulties that the trades schools experience. The education 

^See an article by James F. Barker, "The Separate Technical High 
School," Eleventh Year Book of the National Society for the Study 
of Education, pp. 49-67. 

^ James F. Barker, "The Place and Purpose of the Technical High 
School," Proceedings of Sixth Convention National Society Promotion 
Industrial Education, pp. 195-6. 



41 1] TRADE AXD INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 205 

is too costty and the poorer pupils cannot afford the time re- 
quired. Mr. H. E. Miles estimates that the cost per student 
year in the Stuyvesant High School of New York City and 
the Cass Trade High of Detroit Michigan to be $100.^ This 
type of school, furthermore,, does not touch the children 
who because of poverty must leave school at 14. It must 
recruit its members almost entirely from the upper grades 
of labor and not from the lower grades. Like the trade 
schools it does not afford a ladder by which men may climb 
from the unskilled to the skilled labor group 

4. Trade Preparatory Schools. 

These schools are for the 14-16 year old boy and girl. 
Unlike the trade school they admit younger pupils and are 
not designed as substitutes for apprenticeship. They do 
not aim to turn out highly skilled workmen but rather to 
give a general preparatory training which will afford a basis 
for later specialization. 

There are hundreds of specialized trades in the United 
States which if taught in the schools would necessitate 
minute specialization of the school and the creation of an 
elaborate and complicated system. Many groups of trades 
are however similar in materials used, tools employed and in 
the nature of the final product. Education in the principles 
common to a group of these trades can be given to the 14-16 
year old child and afterwards he can choose a particular 
trade and specialize in it. Such groups of trades having 
basic similarities are : ^ 

^ H. E. Miles, Proceedings First Annual Convention National Associa- 
tion Corporation Schools, p. 274. This includes an allowance for inter- 
est upon the cost of the school plant. 

* I am largely indebted to the admirable classification of the sub- 
committee of the National Education Association on intermediate in- 
dustrial schools. See Proceedings of the 1910 Convention, National 
Education Association, pp. 715-719. 



2o6 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [412 

( 1 ) Woodworking callings : this includes carpenters, 
cabinet making, coopers, and saw-mill workers. Many of 
the subdivisions are exceedingly specialized but they have 
many common tools and they work upon the same material. 

(2) Iron and Steel trades: this includes blacksmiths, iron 
and steel workers (in mills) machinists, plumbers and gas 
fitters. 

(3) Book-binding and pasting trades: among there are, 
bookbinders, box makers, and paper makers. 

(4) Printers Trades : Though there are many specialized 
trades yet there are principles common to all. 

( 5 ) Leather trades : including, boot and shoe makers, 
harness and saddlery makers, tanners and trunk makers. 

(6) Textile mills, cotton, hosiery, silk and woolen mills. 
The problem here is more difficult since many of the pro- 
cesses are dissimilar. 

(7) Clothing trades: including dressmaking, millinery, 
seamstress work, tailoring, shirt and collar making, etc. All 
these trades involve sewing. If machine work is used, 
many of the machines and processes are almost identical. 

(8) Stone work industries: This includes masons, roof- 
ers, and slaters, marble and stone cutters, etc. 

(9) Interior work, building trades : Among these, paint- 
ers, paper hangers, and plasterers. There are many com- 
mon trade problems in the occupations of this group. 

(10) Food industries: This includes butchers, bakers, 
candy makers. 

(11) Tobacco trades : including cigar, plug and cut to- 
bacco, and cigarette making. All these deal with the same 
material and educational material common to all could be 
worked out. 

(12) Miners and quarrymen. 

These groups afford an idea of the field which is open to 



413] TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 207 

the trade preparatory schools. Several such schools have 
been instituted. Among these are the Industrial School of 
Columbus, Georgia/ the Intermediate Industrial School 
of Alban}^, New York; the Rochester Factory Schools, and 
the New Bedford, Massachusetts, Industrial Schools. In 
these schools such subjects as industrial history, mathe- 
matics, drawing, geography, and other cultural material are 
given in addition to the general trade preparatory work. 

Such schools are performing a very valuable function in 
giving this generalized training as a basis for later work. 
The principle is pedagogically sound. It does not try to 
give a training which it is incompetent to offer from the in- 
herent ineffectiveness of the trade school proper. 

Nevertheless under our present system it fails of effec- 
tiveness because it cannot teach the class for which it is 
intended. The families of many 15-16 year old children 
not afford to keep them in school without financial aid. 
Therefore, they cannot benefit by this training and are 
debarred because of their economic situation. 

5. Industrial Schools. 
This term is commonly used in two senses, (a) to desig- 
nate a school giving instruction in several trades forming 
an industry, (b) to designate a school for those who are 
regarded as mentally, morally, socially or economically in- 
ferior. It differs from a trade school in that it gives in- 
struction in several trades rather than in one. It is similar 
to manual training schools in that a manual training school 
which specialized in wood working might be called an in- 
dustrial school because of its preparation for this specific 
industry. On the other hand industrial schools often give 
such general industrial training that they might well be 
listed as virtually manual training schools. 

^ See Bulletin Number 25, IQ13, United States Bureau of Education, 
" Industrial Education in Columbus, Georgia," pp. 12-30, 



208 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



[414 



These similarities, however, should not obscure the dif- 
ference between industrial and manual training schools. 
An industrial school gives much more concrete training and 
its work is intensive rather than extensive. It aims to turn 
out a man who is a master of a particular industry instead of 
one with merely general information about several. 

The term '' industrial school " connotes furthermore a 
school giving vocational education to the dependent, defec- 
tive and criminal classes. The Elmira Reformatory began 
trade instruction in 1886. It was intended to teach every 
corrigible prisoner some trade before he was released. By 
1892, 32 distinct trades were being taught to over a thousand 
youths and men.^ Industrial training has been since intro- 
duced into many prisons; notably in the Michigan State 
Prison. 

The rapid progress of vocational education in reform in- 
stitutions is indicated by the fact that in 191 3, only 22 out 
of 106 retained the word " reform " or reformatory in their 
title and that nearly all the remainder declared that they 
were " industrial schools." In practically all of these in- 
stitutions children are received because of legal commitment, 
not on account of criminal acts committed by them, but to 
rescue them from criminal surroundings and from homes 
where they were ill treated or suffered because of economic 
dependence.^ In 191 3, 35,575, of the 50,812 inmates were 
being taught some trade or occupation.^ 

Industrial training is given also to the deaf and blind. In 
19 1 3, 70% of the 5,000 blind in public institutions were re- 
ceiving instruction in the industrial departments ; ^ while 

^ For an account of the Elmira system see Eighth Annual Report of 
the Commissioner of Labor, 1892, pp. 623-650. 

^ See Report Commissioner of Education, 1913, vol. ii, p. 623. 

^Ihid., pp. 624-628. 

^Ibid., pp. 646-648. 



415] TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 209 

6,800 or 62% of the 11,000 pupils in State schools for the 
deaf, were being taught some industrial occupation/ 

Many of the feeble-minded in public institutions are also 
being taught trades. Approximately 6,500 of the 25,000 
inmates were taught some industrial occupation in 191 3.* 

Industrial schools are the predominant type of higher 
educational institution for the negroes and Indians. 88 of 
the 214 schools for negroes specifically state in their title 
that their primary purpose is industrial, and nearly all of 
these 88 call themselves " industrial schools." Of the 
68,000 enrolled in secondary and higher schools for the 
negroes, 31,000 received industrial training. Some of the 
Negro schools, notably Hampton and Tuskeegee, have at- 
tained a very high level of efficiency. Many of the most 
influential Negroes are advocating that higher education for 
their race be chiefly confined to vocational training, rather 
than to cultural training.^ 

The education which the government has provided for 
the Indian is almost wholly vocational in character. Insti- 
tutions such as the Haskell Institute of Lawrence, Kansas, 
and the Carlisle Indian School, are primarily nothing but 
advanced and thorough industrial schools. There are 73 
industrial training schools for Indians. 13,000 or 88% of 
the 15,400 students in these schools received industrial in- 
struction.* 

The somewhat contemptuous attitude which educators 
and the public have adopted towards vocational education 

1 Report Commissioner of Education, 1913, vol. iii, pp. 655-657. 

* Ibid., pp. 671-672. 

3 The late Booker T. Washington and his successor Col. Moten have been 
the chief supporters of this idea. W. E. B. DuBois, the negro educator 
and the editor of The Crisis, opposes this view and lays greater stress 
upon so-called " cultural education." The vocational theory however 
seems to be winning more adherents. 

* Report Commissioner of Education, 1913, vol. ii, p. 526. 



2IO INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [416 

is evidenced by the preceding statements. Vocational 
education was thought to be necessary^ for criminals, way- 
ward youths, and defectives. It was also adopted as the 
basic element in the instruction of the two races that are re- 
garded as socially inferior ; the Negro and the Indian. For 
all these elements in our population, vocational education 
was encouraged. 

For the normal child of the white race, vocational educa- 
tion was however discouraged. No better illustration of 
the leisure class ideals which have permeated our educa- 
tional system could be given. Our educators have im- 
plicitly reasoned as follows : '' Manual work is debasing and 
slavish. Intellectual pursuits are ennobling. Therefore, 
only the notably inferior classes should be educated for 
manual work, while the rest should be given purely intellec- 
tual training." 

The practical difficulty with any such theory as this is 
that most of those who are not given vocational education 
must later do manual work, for which their purely '' intel- 
lectual " training has not prepared them. This is the pre- 
dicament which has followed upon the taking over of the 
leisure class ideal of education as the basis of our democratic 
school system. Formerly education had very frankly been 
for the leisure class who were few in number. When free 
education was established for all citizens, the content of the 
old education was adopted by the new system. Whereas 
formerly education had prepared those who studied for 
their future occupation, i. c, to enjoy life without working; 
now the vast majority did not have the economic means to 
be able to put their education to that use.^ 

' For a brilliant treatment of this subject see John and Evelyn Dewey-v 
Schools of Tomorrow, pp. 229-250. 



CHAPTER IX 
Training of Employees by the Plant 

Hitherto we have been considering efforts being made 
outside of industry to prepare men for their work. This 
chapter will deal with the organized efforts made by business 
establishments themselves to train their employees for the 
work they are doing or are expected to do. 

Every workman has of course, always needed some train- 
ing in the work he has to do and has received some instruc- 
tion. This instruction has, however, been generally given 
by a harassed and overworked foreman who seldom knew 
how to explain a process. At its best such training was 
incomplete and sketchy, while at its worst it consisted 
largely of ill-tempered rebukes. In either case it was costly, 
because of the decreased production, the breakage and 
damage, and the abnormal labor turnover that resulted. 

In recent years, business units have begun to adapt them- 
selves to the situation and many concerns have function- 
alized the training of employees in a separate department 
charged with this work. The training of the workmen in- 
stead of being one of the many tasks of the shop foreman, 
becomes the concern of a plant official or department. Such 
a step, like the creation of a functionalized employment 
department, is but the carrying out of the principle of func- 
tional foremanship as advocated by Mr. Frederick W. 
Taylor. 

417] 211 



212 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [418 

In those plants where such departments exist, it is of 
course true that the foremen still retain considerable author- 
ity and responsibility in the training of the employees. 
Complete functionalization has therefore not been effected 
even in those plants where the training department has the 
firmest foothold and probably will never be completely ac- 
complished. The trend is, however, distinctly towards 
centralizing training so far as possible under one definite 
agency. The training given by these business units is of 
two varieties: (i) instruction in a separate class or school 
which is for the time being somewhat apart from the actual 
production process, (2) instruction at the job itself. The 
first of these gives more the theoretical background for shop 
work while the second gives concrete production training in 
an actual shop setting. Much confusion has arisen because 
many writers have confined their attention to the school 
work given by a concern and have treated it as the sole 
branch of educational activity and have ignored the train- 
ing at the job itself. The term *' corporation school " has 
in itself contributed to not a little of this confusion. 

As a matter of fact, many plants use only one of these 
methods while some use both. In general, it is undoubtedly 
true that large concerns created special schools for their 
apprentices and workmen before they established function- 
alized departments to instruct the workmen in the shop 
work itself. This was true both because it is always easier 
to create a new agency apart from the regular organization 
of the concern than it is to effect a reorganization in the 
plant itself, and because business men, although ostensibly 
somewhat scornful of the schools, were yet unable to think 
in other than school terms. As we shall see, however, the 
trend has been of late, distinctly towards an emphasis on 
training at the job itself. 

The growth of the general movement is evidenced by the 



^I^] TRAINING EMPLOYEES BY THE PLANT 213 

fact that so far as is known, Hoe and Co., the famous 
manufacturers of printing presses, were the first large con- 
cern to institute a formal school for training their appren- 
tices and workmen in 1872. In 1888, the Westinghouse 
Machine Co. of East Pittsburg, Pa., started another such 
school but for over a decade, few other corporations fol- 
lowed their example. In 1901 the Baldwin Locomotive 
Works inaugurated a somewhat similar system.^ In the 
same year the General Electric Co. started its first school 
for apprentices in its Schenectady plant, and in the follow- 
ing year extended it to its Lynn plant. In 1903 the Inter- 
national Harvester Co. tried to provide organized training 
for its apprentices. 

After 1905, the movement grew rapidly and widely. 
Many railroads adopted the plan, the first of which was the 
Central Railway of New Jersey in that year. In the next 
year the New York Central and the Union Pacific adopted 
the scheme, while the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe fol- 
lowed in 1907. By the action of these three roads the 
system was taken from the Atlantic to the Pacific within a 
year. The plan was quickly adopted by other roads not- 
ably the Delaware and Hudson in 1907, the Chicago and 
Great Western, and the Erie, in 1908, the Lehigh Valley in 
1910, the Baltimore and Ohio in 191 1, the Illinois Central 
in 1912, the Southern Pacific in 1913. In 191 5 in addition 
to the roads previously mentioned, the following also had 
apprenticeship schools : ( i ) The Boston and Maine, (2) the 
Canadian Pacific, (3) the Central of Georgia, (4) The Lack- 
awanna, (5) the Grand Trunk, (6) Oregon Short Line, 
(7) the Southern, (8) the St. Louis & Southwestern, and 

^ See an article by S. M. Vauclain, " The System of Apprenticeship 
of the Baldwin Locomotive Works " in J. R. Commons, Trade Union- 
ism and Labor Problems, pp. 304-315. 



214 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



[420 



(9) the St. Louis and San Francisco.^ In that year there 
were in all 108 such railway schools.^ 

Corporation schools developed rapidly in manufacturing 
as well as in transportation. A few of the corporations 
who instituted such a policy, between 1905 and 191 3 and the 
dates of their action are given in the following table : 



Year 


Corporation 


Place 


1905 


Qeveland Twist Drill Co. 


Cleveland, Ohio 


1906 


Burroughs Adding Machine Co. 


Detroit, Mich. 




Consolidated Gas Co. 


New York, N.Y. 




Western Electric Co. 


Chicago, 111. 




Westinghouse Air Brake Co. 


Wilmerding, Pa. 


1907 


Lupton Sons Co. 


Philadelphia, Pa. 




Cadillac Motor Co. 


Detroit, Mich. 


190S 


Brown and Sharpe 


Providence, R. I. 




Cincinnati Planer Co. 


Cincinnati, Ohio 




R. R. Donnelly and Sons 


Chicago, 111. 




Fore River Shipbuilding Co. 


Quincy, Mass. 




iSolvay Co. 


Syracuse, N. Y. 




Yale and Towne Mfg. Co. 


Stamford, Conn. 


1909 


Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co. 


E. Pittsburg, Pa. 




Leland and Co. 


Worcester, Mass, 


1910 


Franklin Mfg. Co. 


Syracuse, N. Y. 




General Electric Co. 


Pittsfield, Mass. 


191 1 


Warner, Swasey and Co. 


Cleveland, Ohio 


1912 


Royal Typewriter Co. 


Hartford, Conn. 




Foote and Davies Co. 


Atlanta, Ga. 


1913 


Packard Motor Co. 


Detroit, Mich. 




Fort Wayne Electric Works 


Fort Wayne, Ind. 




Curtis Publishing Co. 


Philadelphia, Pa. 



The year 191 3 was marked by the organization of the 
National Association of Corporation Schools. This asso- 

*The development of the railway systems of corporation schools is 
well illustrated in the charts included in the Proceedings Second Annual 
Convention, pp. 410-41 1; Proceedings of Third Annual Convention, pp. 
168-169. 

^Proceedings Third Annual Convention Nat. Assoc. Corp. Schools, 
pp. 168-169. There were in addition 32 railway schools of the Grand 
Trunk and the Canadian Pacific located in Canada. 



42 1 ] TRAINING EMPLOYEES BY THE PLANT 215 

ciation was organized tO' act as a clearing house for the in- 
terchange of ideas, to collect and make available data about 
successful and unsuccessful schemes of educating employees, 
and to promote an interest in the training of their employees 
on the part of corporations. The corporation school thus 
ceased to be the concern of any one individual plant alone, 
and became the subject of general concern. The strength 
of the movement was thus enormously increased. 

The growth of this organization is well illustrated by the 
following table. 

Membership in National Association of Corporation Schools ^ 
Date Number of business concerns members 

Sept., 1913 37 

June, 1914 52 

June, 1915 65 

June, 1916 102 

March, 1917 105 

March, 1920 146 

These figures are not a complete index of the actual 
number of corporation schools started in this period. A 
few of the companies belonging to the association did not 
actually have such schools or training departments, while 
the additions to the association are in part due merely to 
the coalescence of already existing schools. The growth 
of the association does, however, indicate the heightened 
interest in the general idea of corporate training for em- 
ployees. 

The National Association of Corporation Schools in fact 
soon broadened its whole program so that it included the 
entire educational aspect of industry. To its primary pur- 
pose of constituting a forum, the association added the 
following three functions : 

^ Compiled from the monthly bulletins of the National Association 
Corporation Schools. 



2i6 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [422 

1. To develop the efficiency of the individual employee. 

2. To increase efficiency in industry as a whole. 

3. To influence courses of established institutions more 
favorably towards industry. 

The association has tried to lay down standards for safety 
and health precautions; to investigate schools for office- 
workers, adult workers, and for apprentices proper, and to 
recommend successful features for adoption; to study 
policies of advertising and retail salesmanship; and to in- 
stitute approved methods of vocational guidance. In the 
school work that is given the subjects taught naturally vary 
with the plant. For the machinists trade, mechanical draw- 
ing, shop mathematics and blueprint reading are the most 
important studies. The training is based upon the problems 
which arise in the daily work. The school studies are in 
the main used simply to clarify the practical problems. 
Text-books, loose-leaf lesson sheets and oral instruction, 
are all used in these schools. In general, the supervisors of 
apprentices believe that loose-leaf lesson sheets obtain 
better results than texts, as the sheets allow greater elasticity 
and make the studies apply much more concretely to the 
practical problems of the particular shop.^ 

The average amount of time which the apprentices are 
required to spend in the schools is approximately four hours 
a week, generally in two sessions of two hours eaach.^ The 
instructors in these schools are normally taken from the 
force of the corporation itself instead of being hired from 
without. This connects the school with the problems 
of the workshop, and is less expensive because it does not 

*30 plants out of S3 declared that lesson sheets were more satisfactory 
than textbooks. See Proceedings Third Convention Nat. Assoc. Corp. 
Schools, p. 165. 

Proceedings Third Annual Convention Nat. Assoc. Corp. Schools, 
pp. 141-145- 



423] TRAINING EMPLOYEES BY THE PLANT 217 

necessitate the employment of a man upon full-time pay to 
do only part-time work. It does, of course, have the disad- 
vantage that the teacher may be hurried by his other duties 
that he does not have time properly to prepare his school 
work/ 

In 1 914 the following number of apprentices attended the 
corporation schools of 51 different companies.^ 

Type of Industry No. of Schools Number of Apprentices 

Railways 17 4,4Si 

Manufacturing concerns 34 3*638 

Total 51 8,089 

Since the sources of information were limited there were 
necessarily many plants whose apprentices were not in- 
cluded in the preceding table. Approximately 80 per cent 
of these apprentices were being trained for the machinists 
trade for repair work. Thus in the railway schools prac- 
tically all the men were being trained for repair-shop work. 
This confirms the statement made in an earlier chapter that 
manual skill is being largely concentrated in the repair- 
ing of machines. Other trades taught are carpentering, 
plumbing, molding, boiler-making, painting, and decorating, 
electrical work, blacksmithing, mechanical drawing, pattern- 
making, and testing. 

These apprentice-schools are almost all located in the 
eastern states. Of forty-one shop schools for apprentices 
in manufacturing industries which were investigated in 191 5, 
only one was located west of the Mississippi River and only 
three south of the Ohio River. Fourteen were in the states 

* For the pedagogical qualities of corporation school work, see A. J. 
Beatty, Corporation Schools (Bloomington, 111.) especially chaps, iv to 
viii, inclusive. 

' These statistics are compiled from a chart made by the sub-committee 
on trade apprenticeship. See Proceedings of Second Convention Nat. 
Assoc. Corp. Schools, pp. 404-405. 



2i8 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [424 

of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and the remaining 
twenty-three in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, 
Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.^ The rail- 
way shop schools on the other hand were much more widely 
scattered. Forty-eight of the 108 shops in this country, or 
nearly one-half, were west of the Mississippi, and 11, or 
10%, were south of the Ohio.^ Most of the corporations 
that prescribed school training for their employees provide 
this school themselves and have the work given inside the 
plant. Some, however, either rely upon the public even- 
ing schools or upon the correspondence schools to meet the 
need but meet part or all of the expenses for their em- 
ployees. 

In addition to these specialized schools for the more- 
highly skilled workmen many concerns have established 
schools of a more general nature for their unskilled and 
semi-skilled workmen. These classes are designed to 
arouse in the employee interest in and a general knowledge 
of the business. Consequently, lectures are generally given 
on such topics as (a) the history and importance of the in- 
dustry, (b) the technological processes of the industry, (c) 
policies of particular organization itself including its origin, 
growth, selling policy, labor policy, methods of promotion 
etc. Within the last few years many plants employing 
large numbers of immigrant-workers have instituted Amer- 
icanization classes which have devoted themselves largely 
to teaching English. Lectures are also given in many 
plants on safety measures and in some, on health care. 

It has been unfortunate, however, that the attention of 
educators and of the public has been fixed upon the school 
training given by modem business concerns rather than 

* See Proceedings Third Convention, Nat. Assoc. Corp. Schools, pp. 
168-169. 

*Ibid., pp. 168-169. 



425] TRAINING EMPLOYEES BY THE PLANT 219 

upon the shop training, for the former has always been 
less important than the latter. The real education which a 
business concern gives to its workmen is always mainly cen- 
tered about the actual days work itself and " school work " 
is at best extrinsic to the real core of the production pro- 
cess. Men learn to become good workmen at their job 
only, by mastering that job and this cannot be accomplished 
by theoretical instruction, whether inside or outside the 
factory walls. The development of the functionalized 
training department, however, has introduced order into the 
education of workmen on the job where all was previously 
chaos. A definite plan of training is set up and an agency 
created to administer it. 

The nature of this shop training must naturally vary with 
the type of worker to be trained. Where advanced appren- 
tices are being trained for executive and high-grade 
engineering positions the men are changed from one branch 
of the work to another, once they have mastered a field. 
They are carefully supervised and a wealth of individual in- 
struction is given them. The most notable concern giving 
this type of training is the General Electric Company which 
annually employs approximately 300 college graduates as 
apprentices. These men are given training in the testing 
department for one year; after that, as Dr. Steinmetz says, 
" we provide situations for those who desire to remain with 
the company and for those whom we consider first class 
men, further training in an extension course." ^ 

Where men are being trained for the highly skilled 
mechanical positions, as in the railroad apprentice schools 
and many of the large corporations, the shop work of the 
learners is generally supervised by a specialized agent. This 

* C P. Steinmetz, "Engineering Schools of Electrical Manufacturing 
Companies," Proceedhtgs First Annual Convention, National Association 
of Corporation Schools. 



220 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [426 

man primarily oversees the training given to the apprentices 
rather than training the apprentice himself. Promotion 
is thus individualized and the lock-step method is broken; 
once adept boys have mastered an operation, they can be 
changed to another job without waiting for their less capable 
fellows. Should the apprentice need more instruction than 
can be given by the foremen, the functional supervisor can 
of course give supplementary training. To do adequate 
work such a supervisor should not be burdened with the 
care of overseeing too msmy apprentices. The general con- 
sensus of opinion seems to be that thirty or fifty apprentices 
per supervisor is the maximum number than can be directed 
efficiently.^ In practice, however, many plants have a much 
higher ratio than this although one manufacturing con- 
cern has as low a ratio as six apprentices per instructor.^ 

The war-time labor shortage caused many employers to 
install training systems. In these systems, the learners were 
almost universally trained upon the job itself. Perhaps 
the most noteworthy development was that of the ''vesti- 
bule school." This has been admirably defined by Dr. H, 
C. Link as ^ 

a preliminary training school in which to observe and coach 
new employees. The vestibule school is to the industrial or- 
ganization what the vestibule is to the home. In the home it is 
a place where the entrant stops, wipes his shoes on the mat, ad- 
justs his garments, and performs those duties which prepare 
him to enter the house proper. In the factory or office it is a 
place which detains the incoming employee until he has become 
adjusted to a new environment and has been prepared to handle 
the essential elements of his prospective work. Having passed 
through this preliminary stage, he is the more ready to enter 
upon the work of the main shop or office. 

^Proceedings Second Annual Convention, National Association Cor- 
poration Schools, p. 437. 

» Ibid., p. 439- 

• Link, Employment Psychology, p. 2/^. 



427] TRAINING EMPLOYEES BY THE PLANT 22 1 

The novices are given training under instruction, on 
actual production jobs somewhat apart from the main plant 
process itself. This training department may be completely 
separated from the rest of the plant, or, if it is unwise to 
equip such a complete cross-section unit of the plant, it may 
occupy segregated floor space in each of the regular de- 
partments. The segregation permits close supervision and 
instruction, while the production work gives absolute con- 
creteness of aim. Scores of plants instituted such schools 
during the war, among which may be mentioned the Lincoln 
Motors Co. of Detroit, the Recording and Computing 
Machines Co. of Dayton, and the Curtis Aeroplane and 
Motor Co.^ 

The novices are generally trained in only one operation 
and naturally their period of training is short. Women in 
the Recording and Computing Machines Co. were trained 
for a unit job from three to ten days.^ The worker is also 
given a certain amount of supervision once he leaves the 
school and starts work in the plant proper. Employees 
changed to new positions are also frequently sent back to 
the " vestibule school " for training on their new job. 

The development of the vestibule school corroborates the 
statement made in Chapter V. that most industrial opera- 
tions do not require long training and at the same time 
indicates what the probable development of industrial edu- 
cation inside the plant will be. 

^ For a description of these training departments see C. V. Carpenter, 
"How we Trained 5000 women," Industrial Management, May, 1918, 
pp. 353-57. H. E. Miles, " Vestibule Schools for the Unskilled," Indus- 
trial Management, July 1918, pp. 10-12. J. W. Russell, " Installing a 
Training Department," Industrial Management, March, 1919, pp. 177-183. 
H. N. Clarke, " Breaking in the New Worker," Industrial Management, 
June, 1919, p. 497. See also H. E. Miles, ''Vestibule Schools," The 
Survey, March 6, 1920, pp. 700-706. 

''Carpenter, op. cit., p. 355. 



222 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [428 

It should not be thought that plant training has been con- 
fined to the manufacturing end. Many concerns have in- 
stalled systems of training for their clerical force and 
salesmen as well/ Here again are found the "Vestibule 
schools " with their emphasis upon the " actual " job and the 
auxiliary training work given in school classes. 

It is very easy to see that the new system of training em- 
ployees inside the plant applies many of tlie features of the 
old apprenticeship system to modern conditions. Supervised 
training is given the empk/yee on actual productive work. 
There are however, certain very vital differences : ( i ) Un- 
like the old apprenticeship the new system rarely aims to 
teach the worker the whole trade. Save in only a few in- 
stances the novice is trained at only a limited number of 
operations. The vestibule school with its instruction at a 
single operation illustrates the trend towards specialized 
training. (2) There is in general no fixed period of time 
which the learner must serve. Some of the corporation 
schools do have minimum periods for the apprentices to the 
highly skilled trades, but in the main the work is conducted 
on a go-as-you-please basis with no fixed period of training. 
(3) The indenture is rarely used and whatever instruction 
is given is almost wholly outside any possible legal supervi- 
sion. (4) Whereas apprenticeship formerly applied almost 
exclusively to minors, the present system trains workers of 

^ Among the companies that have systematic plans of training their 
office workers are the National Cloak and Suit Co., the Larkin Co., the 
Curtis Publishing Co., the Burroughs Adding Machine Co., and the 
Dennison Manufacturing Co. General financial institutions such as 
the Equitable Life Insurance Co., the National Surety Co., and the 
National City Bank of New York City have similar plans. Among the 
firms that have a thorough system of education for their salesmen are 
the New York Edison Co., the National Cash Register Co., the Burroughs 
Adding Machine Co., the Dennison Manufacturing Co., the Packard 
Motor Co., the American Optical Co., the Cadillac Co., and the United 
States Cigar .Store Co. 



429] TRAINING EMPLOYEES BY THE PLANT 223 

all ages. ( 5 ) The present system confines its training to in- 
struction inside the plant. Unlike the old apprenticeship, it 
does not and cannot hope to superintend the learner outside 
the work place. Nor can it adequately develop the cultural 
and spiritual aspects of the worker as was the purpose of the 
institution of apprenticeship. 

In conclusion, what may be said to be the merits and 
demerits of corporation schools and training departments? 

They have real advantages, since a corporation knows 
its problems as no school can know them and its training 
work has great concreteness. Theory and practice are 
joined together in every week's activity. A corporation, 
therefore, can train its employees for their specific tasks 
more efficiently than can any other organization. The 
movement is then a real attempt to restore the good features 
of apprenticeship and to make modern industry a place of 
learning as well as of doing. 

They have, however, certain very decided inadequacies: 

( 1 ) The school or training department is scarcely practic- 
able for a small business, since a concern must be of consider- 
able size before it caii afford to establish a separate educa- 
tional department with a special supervisor of training. The 
corporation school and the specialized training department, 
must then be accounted one of the advantages of large 
scale production and as one of the by-products of the 
capacity of a large concern for specialization and differen- 
tiation. A plant must apparently have at least several hun- 
dred employees before it becomes profitable to introduce 
the corporation school. Indeed nine-tenths of the concerns 
making up the National Association of Corporation schools 
number their employees in the thousands. 

(2) 51 out of 57 apprentice schools would not admit ap- 
prentices under 16.^ Only four schools would admit child- 

^ Proceedings of Second Annual Convention Nat. Assoc. Corp. Schools, 
pp. 408-409. 



224 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [430 

ren of 14 or under. The fourteen-year-old child is too im- 
mature and undependable to be profitably given skilled train- 
ing by private plants and other agencies are needed to care 
for those two years in a child's life. 

(3) The policy of the corporation school is necessarily 
shaped by the employer alone. It is, therefore, almost in- 
evitable that social questions such as the merits and demerits 
of trade unionism should receive biased treatment. 

(4) The primary purpose of a corporation school or 
training department is necessarily profit. As Qiarles P. 
Steinmetz, perhaps the ablest and broadest-minded man 
in the corporation school movement, says : " The limitation 
of the corporation activities in the educational and similar 
fields is that given by the limitation of the corporation pur- 
pose to earn dividends for its stockholders. No human 
activity in this or other fields can be justified before a stock- 
holders meeting, which does not show a favorable financial 
balance, however much the corporation directors may desire 
philanthropic work." ^ 

This cash-value test of education is of course dangerous, 
since what may be immensely profitable to society, may not 
be profitable to the individual corporation. In the corpora- 
tion schools the training is thoroughly practical. There is 
no cultural education at all. Although the vestibule schools 
do furnish admirable preparation for specific trades, never- 
theless, they do not provide broad vocational or civic train- 
ing. Workmen need to posses a broader equipment than 
the knowledge of only one process if they are to protect 
themselves against unemployment. As citizens moreover, 
their needs are greater than can be satisfied by the business 
exigencies of the individual plant. 

*C. P. iSteinmetz, " Presidental Address," Third Annual Convention 
National Association Corporation School, p. 52. 



43 1 ] TRAINING EMPLOY RFS BY THE PLANT 225 

(5) The question may fairly be asked: Does this plant 
training pay for itself after all? There can be but little 
doubt that the '' vestibule " training does. The expense of 
training is more than compensated by the increased produc- 
tion at work, the freeing of the foremen from instruction, 
the reduction of breakage and damage whether to the 
machine, the material or the fellow workmen, together with 
the reduction of the labor turnover which results. 

(6) Finally, it is by no means clear however, that the 
more elaborate apprentice courses and corporation schools 
are a paying proposition. In the first place, most of the argu- 
ments advanced to prove the economic success of these 
schools are decidely inadequate. Mr. F. C. Henderschott 
of the New York Edison Co. declared that in the year after 
the introduction of a school for salesmen and other workers 
the business of his company increased 20.5% as compared 
with the average yearly increase of 12%.^ The conclusion 
was that the school work had been chiefly responsible for 
this increase. Mr. Henderschott is here guilty of the post 
hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. A number of other factors 
might have caused the increase equally as well. 

The truth of the matter is that the corporation faces the 
same obstacle in training its apprentices and skilled workers 
that the small manufacturers were confronted with in the 19th 
century, namely that the apprentice may leave upon or before 
the termination of his term and go to some other company. 
This is a real deterrent to the individual employer provid- 
ing training. He is liable to go to the expense of training 
the boy only to the end that some one else shall obtain the 
benefits of his skill. The employer must face the question : 
considering the transient nature of the working force does 

* F. C. Henderschott, Proceedings First Annual Conv. Nat. Assoc. 
Corp. Schools, p. 404. 



226 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [432 

it pay him (not does it pay the industry) to train his young 
workers ? 

The following table shows the number of apprentices 
taken on trial by various concerns up to 1914, the number 
graduated, and the number in the employ of the company in 
that year.^ 

Name of Company Number of Number Graduates 

Apprentices Graduated Employed 
on Trml with 

Company 

Am. Locom. Co 807 126 98 

Bos. & Me. R. R ' . . . Sz 27 20 

Cen. R. R. of N. Y 260 36 16 

Del. & Hudson R. R 290 113 86 

Erie R. R 1007 161 104 

Gr. Trunk R. R 1660 225 99 

Penn. R. R 406 219 181 

South Pac. R. R 304 4 4 

Cadillac Mot. Car. Co 580 80 35 

Cincin. Planer Co 50 10 3 

Clev. Twist Drill Co ^ 7 i 

Foote & Davis Co 35 o o 

Ft. Wayne Elec. Wks 11 o o 

Gen. Elec. Co., Lynn, Mass 1710 156 60 

" (Pattern-making) 177 20 11 

" ( Moulding) 171 22 8 

" (Stenography) 19 3 2 

" ( Mech. Drawing) 254 57 24 

" (Testing) 98 i i 

" (Business) 17 4 2 

" (Electrical) 274 93 46 

Leland & Co. 30 8 6 

Packard Mot. C^r. Co 86 o o 

Western Elec. Co 1 1 1 25 15 

Westinghouse Elec. Mfg 779 133 63 

Yale & Towne 212 55 2^7 

Total 9,459 1.585 922 

*This table has been compiled from raw data gathered by the sub- 
committee on manufacturing and mining, Proceedings Second Annual 
Convention National Association Srhools, 1914, pp. 408-409. 



433] TRAINING EMPLOYEES BY THE PLANT 227 

Thus only 16.7% of the apprentices who were taken on 
trial graduated from the course of training and only 58. i % 
of those who graduated or 9.1% of those taken on trial 
were at that time in the employ of the company. 

Can an undertaking be called profitable when, of every 
100 men trained, only 16 complete the course, and only 
10 work permanently for the concern that trained them? 
These corporations have in other words trained 90 men who 
are working elsewhere for every 10 men so trained who 
are working for them. 

This statement however, needs to be qualified. Many 
dropped out soon after training began, others were elimin- 
ated along the way and the expense undergone by the 
companies in training such a boy was much less than it 
would have been had he gone all the way through, and then 
left to work elsewhere. 

It is a curious paradox, however, that it does pay some 
concerns to lose their apprentices to other plants. The 
apprentices that leave the employ of the General Electric 
Company, go as a rule into executive positions with com- 
panies using electrical apparatus. Since they have been 
trained in General Electric methods and accustomed to 
General Electric machinery and since, moreover, the General 
Electric has tried to develop an esprit de corps among its 
apprentices, there is every incentive for them to buy Gen- 
eral Electric goods. There can be little doubt that sales of 
the General Electric Company have increased in part just 
because of this loyalty on the part of its old " boys " who 
are now with other firms. This is however, an unusual 
case. Most apprentices do not leave a company to become 
loyal purchasers from that company, but rather to become 
employees of a competitor. After all allowances have been 
made, it is at least possible and in many cases probable that 
the cost of training the boys is on the whole, greater than 
the return received. 



228 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [434 

It seems probable, however that the plant training given 
in the future will be more in the nature of shop instruction 
in specialized processes rather than in the more elaborate 
system of a long-time apprenticeship training. However 
some skilled workmen are needed and if some plan similar 
to the Wisconsin apprenticeship system were introduced for 
the more skilled trades, undoul^tedly a greater stabilization 
would result, and the employer would be given greater 
assurance of a return upon his investment of training. 



CHAPTER X 
Evening and Correspondence Schools 

This and the following chapter consider schools that 
are midway between those of the last two chapters. 
Chapter VIII. discussed schools that had as their basic 
assumption that the school could train for industry. The 
corporation schools described in Chapter IX. are based 
upon the belief that training in an industry can come only 
from actual experience in the industry itself and that the 
school work is merely supplementary. Continuation and 
cooperative schools stress the importance of shop work 
more than does the trade or industrial school, but they also 
lay greater stress upon the school-work that is to accom- 
plish the practical details. 

The continuation school differs from the day trade school 
in that the student is studying while he is already engaged 
in industry. It differs from the corporation school in that 
the student is generally instructed outside of the place where 
he is employed and his education is under the direction of 
agencies other than his employer. 

Continuation schools have two broad purposes: (i) In- 
dustrial and (2) social. The industrial purposes of the 
continuation schools are to prepare the worker (a) for 
the job he chances to be holding at the time, (b) for a 
higher position within the same industr)% (c) for other in- 
dustries. The social purposes are (a) to teach the English 
language (in the case of foreigners), (b) to give general 
instruction in citizenship, (c) to increase the capacity for 
enjoyment of cultural things. 

435] 229 



2^0 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [436 

Continuation schools may be divided into two main 
classes, (i) those that are conducted outside of working 
hours, which are considered in this chapter, and (2) those 
that are conducted during working hours, which are con- 
sidered in the following chapter. 

Evening schools were an early phenomenon in this 
country. The early masters were compelled to give some 
literary education to their apprentices and evening schools 
were established to provide for this so that the masters 
might pool the education of their apprentices. Samuel 
Crane of Dorchester, Alass., kept an evening school from 
1790-97 for the apprentices in paper mills and for other 
studiously inclined boys. There were many evening 
schools in the middle colonies which had as their chief pur- 
pose the furnishing of education to these indentured ap- 
prentices.^ Of course students other than apprentices were 
admitted to these schools, but the necessity of complying 
with the educational requirements of the apprentice law 
gave a certain amount of patronage to these schools and 
was at least one of the causes for their formation. 

Such evening schools continued and increased during the 
nineteenth century, and the necessity of providing for the 
education of the apprentices was still one of the causes for 
their institution. In 1828, the Ohio Mechanics Institute 
started a school in Cincinnati to which apprentices and sons 
of members were eligible upon payment of 50 cents a 
year.^ In 1840. the Baltimore, Md., board of education 
organized six evening schools for apprentices and others.* 
Thus evening schools had their origin, in part at least, as 
a continuation of the apprentice system. 

^A. W. Brawley, Schools and School Boys of Old Boston, p. 24. 
Quoted by A. J. Jones, Continuation Schools in United States, pp. 84-85. 
'Chas. Cist, Cincinnati in 1841, p. 132. 
* Report Baltimore Board of Education, i860, p. 335. 



437] EVENING AND CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS 23I 

Evening schools may be classified from the standpoint of 
control under two heads : ( i ) Those under private 
management, (2) those under public management. 

I. Evening Schools Under Private Management 
The private schools may be primarily conducted either 
for eleemosynary purposes or for profit. Prominent 
among the privately managed schools that are conducted 
primarily for public purposes are those of the Young 
Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations. 

The following table shows the increase of students in 
round numbers in the Y. M. C. A. Schools.^ 

Year No. of students enrolled 

1893 12,000 

1900 26,000 

1905 33,000 

1915 83,000 

The increase during these twenty-three years was, there- 
fore, approximately six- fold. The expenditure per student 
also increased during this time from $4.33 in 1893 to 
$13.90 in 191 5, or an increase of over 200%.^ 

In 1895, three-quarters of the men who took this school 
work were clerks, but in 1905, only 43% were clerks, while 
51% were artisans.^ The average age of these students in 
1909 was 23 years, and about 18% were under 18 years of 
age.*^ The subjects studied are classified under six heads : 
(a) Commercial, including business law, arithmetic, book- 
keeping, stenography and typewriting, (b) Political, in- 
cluding government, economics, social history, etc. (c) 
Industrial, including carpentry, drawing, wood-carving, 

^Annual Report, Educational Department of the Y. M. C. A., 1905, 
PP- 39-50; Year Book, Y. M. C. A., 1915-1916, pp. 24-50, op. cit. 

* Annual Report Educational Dept. 1915-16 Year Book, op. cit., p. 24. 

• Annual Report Educational Dept., op. cit., p. 29. 

^ 25th Annual Report Commissioner of Labor, p. 2^T). 



232 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [438 

etc. (d) Scientific, including higher mathematics, physics, 
chemistry and electricity, (e) Language, including Eng- 
lish, French and Spanish, (f) Special, such as law, art 
and automobiling. (g) Employed boys. This is work 
specifically adopted to the needs of those already employed. 
With the decline in the relative importance of the clerical 
class, commercial subjects have also decreased in import- 
ance. 

The work is supervised by the educational department of 
the International Association. Though its power is only 
advisory, it acts as a clearing house for information and 
advice. This committee prepares uniform examinations 
upon the subjects taught and sends them to the local as- 
sociations. The certificates are granted to those who pass 
these examinations and in 1901 the certificates had been 
accepted as credit by no colleges and universities. Not 
many of the local associations use these examinations, how- 
ever, for only 2.y% of the 82,000 students in 191 5 were 
given the international certificate.^ Though the Y. M. 
C. A. is doing good work it can never be expected adequately 
to solve the problem. First, it reaches and can teach only 
a comparatively small percentage of those that need train- 
ing. Only those sections that have an association can 
benefit by its work. The growth of the educational work 
is, therefore, dependent upon the growth of the movement, 
as a whole, and many places that need evening education 
can not receive it. Not only is there this geographical re- 
striction of the field of service, but large sections of the 
population within any given territory either will not, or 
cannot, attend such schools. Though the Y. M. C. A. is 
attached to no religious body, yet its influence and leader- 
ship is overwhelmingly Protestant in nature rather than 
Catholic. This, to be sure, is caused in part by the re- 

^ igi5-i6 Year-hooks, Y. M. C. A., p. 24. 



439] EVENING AND CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS 233 

fusal of most Catholics to cooperate with it. The 
Catholic population, however, looks somewhat askance at 
it and is loath to utilize it in any way. If Catholics dis- 
like the Y. M. C. A. because it is Protestant, " free-think- 
ers" dislike it because it is religious. Its somewhat evan- 
gelical characteristics cause it to be looked down upon by 
so-called " rationalists " and to be viewed with a vague dis- 
trust by other non-religious or anti-religious people. 

Nor are its obstacles geographical or religious alone. 
There are economic barriers as well. The tuition fees 
average over $11.00 per student. To this must be added, 
(i) dues in the Y. M. C. A. itself, membership in which 
is generally a pre-requisite for attending classes, and (2) the 
cost of text-books. It is safe to estimate that an average ex- 
penditure of $20.00 would be necessary to take the school- 
work offered. Knowing what we do about wages and the 
cost of living in the United States, we can readily see that 
this amount debars a large class. 

Finally, despite the efforts to standardize and improve the 
quality of work offered, it cannot be said that the training 
given is always of a high order. It is often more in the nature 
of an advertisement for the local Y. M. C. A. than a serious 
and earnest attempt to improve conditions. Very '>ften 
the equipment is inadequate and the teachers incompetent. 

The Y. W. C. A. also gives instruction in a parallel man- 
ner to that of the Y. M. C. A. Its members are fewer 
and its influence less than that of the men's association, but 
it confronts the same obstacles. 

Another type is that of the privately endowed schools 
that give evening work. Some of these give all day 
trade instruction as well. These schools thus perform 
the double mission of a day trade and an evening school. 
To the extent that they do give evening instruction to those 
already employed, they may be listed under the head of 
eleemosynary evening schools. 



234 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [440 

Examples of schools that give evening instruction only- 
are (i) the North Bennet Industrial School, (2) Franklin 
Union, (3) the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics As- 
sociation Evening Trades School, all of Boston, Mass., (4) 
the Ohio Mechanics Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, (5) the 
St. George's Evening Trades School, (6) the Preparatory 
Trade School, (7) the Italian Evening Trade School of 
New York City and (8) the Virginia Mechanics Institute 
of Richmond, Va. 

Examples of schools that give day instruction as well, are 
(i) Cooper Union, (2) the New York Trade School of 
New York City, (3) Pratt Institute of Brooklyn and (4) 
Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. Cooper Union was 
founded in 1854, for definite continuation school purposes. 
It was designed "to give instruction, to those already em- 
ployed at trades, in such departments of knowledge as 
might fit them to become foremen, employers and good 
citizens." Here both the industrial and social purposes 
are clearly evident. The industrial training was evidently 
to be given in order that the worker might rise from his 
position to a higher rank, whether within the same industry 
or without. The idea of training the worker merely for 
the particular task at which he is then engaged, which is 
one of the most important purposes of the modern continua- 
tion school, is wholly absent. 

Little or no argument is needed to demonstrate the inade- 
quacy of philanthropic evening schools. Philanthropists 
are relatively few and their gifts are insufficient to meet 
the need. The problem is too big to be solved by the 
fortuitous donations of individuals. 

In addition to these philanthropic evening schools, there 
are schools conducted primarily on business principles. In 
a previous chapter we have discussed day trade schools 
operated for profit. Private enterprise, however, does not 



441 ] EVENING AND CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS 235 

confine its attention to the daytime. Its night-schools af- 
ford an opportunity for those who work by day to study 
by night. Little need be added to the description of these 
schools that has already been given. They are in the main 
inefficient and ill-equipped, and are so expensive that a large 
class is barred from making use of their advantages. 

2. Public Evening Schools 

Most important of all are the public evening schools. It 
is impossible to obtain statistics about the early extent and 
influence of the public evening schools. Here and there in 
the reports of city school systems and in the reports of the 
Commissioner of Education, we find references to their ex- 
istence, but definite figures are difficult to secure. The first 
compilation by the Bureau of Education was in 1887-88, 
and the following table shows the growth of the system 
since then. 

Year Total number of pupils in 

evening schools in 
cities over 8,000 ^ 

1887-88 135,654 

1896-97 183,168 

1898-99 185,000 

1900-01 203,000 

1902-03 229,213 

1904-05 392,319 

1907-08 357,923 

1909-10 374,364 

191 1-12 419,981 

1913-14 614,068 

1914-15 (>7^,393 

These statistics indicate an extraordinary growth since 
1911-12 of 260,000 in round numbers or an increase of 
about 62%. Part of this increase is due, undoubtedly, to 

^ See Reports Commissioner of Education, 1887-88, pp. 223-27; 1897, 
vol. i, p. 9; 1898-99, vol. i, p. 60; 1901, vol. i, p. 9; 1903, vol. i, p. 9; 
1905, vol. i, p. 8; 1908, vol. ii, p. 422. 



236 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [442 

the better reporting of school statistics which the Bureau 
has secured since 191 2. In spite of this, however, there 
seems Httle reason to doubt that during the last five years, 
evening schools have greatly extended their influence. 

The evening schools find their chief strength in the cities 
of over 100,000 population. 45% of all the pupils en- 
rolled in 1914-15 belonged to cities of this class. ^ 

411,000 or 60% of the students in the evening schools in 
1914-15, were males and 267,000 or 40% were females.'^ 
That the evening schools do not do advanced work is evi- 
denced by the fact that over two-thirds of the pupils were en- 
rolled in the elementary grades, and slightly less than one- 
third in the secondary schools.* The evening schools, more- 
over, will contain in one class, people of different ages and 
nationalities. Employed boys and girls of from 14-21 years 
study along with men of over 30 years of age. American- 
bom children of American parents study in the same room or 
the same school with foreign-born men — for there are over 
175,000 foreigTi-born immigrants who are stud}ang in even- 
ing schools of the country.* 

In consequence, the evening school curriculum permits 
only rudimentary work. The courses offered in the even- 
ing schools are, indeed, designed more to atone for deficien- 
cies in the common school education which the pupil for one 
cause or other has experienced, than to act as a continua- 
tion of the common school studies. Its training is, there- 
fore, so general in nature that it gives little assistance to 
the boy in industry who wants to be prepared either for the 

^3i3>253 of the total of 678,393. See Report Commissioner of Edu- 
caMoHy 1916, vol. ii, pp. 72-75. 

^Ibid. 

'Report Commissioner of Education, 1912, vol. ii, p. 30. 
* See F. E. Farrington, " Public Facilities for Educating the Alien," 
Bull. 18, jgii, U. S. Bureau of Education. 



443] EVENING AND CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS 237 

job he is then holding or for a better one. The American 
evening school is really a duplication of the day school 
system, running only at different hours, and its content 
rarely shows that the educational authorities have realized 
that they have a different problem to face. 

These evening schools are definitely a part of the school 
system of the various cities. Massachusetts and Connec- 
ticut make their creation mandatory to stamp out illiteracy. 
Nine states (California, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, New- 
Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin) have 
permissive legislation allowing the establishment of evening 
schools. These laws amount to but little because they 
merely formally approve the action of a city but do not en- 
courage it. States which do not have permissive legisla- 
tion often have as many evening schools as those that do. 
Of more direct aid are the grants which eleven states : Cali- 
fornia, Connecticut, Minnesota, Indiana, Maine, New 
Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washing- 
ton and Wisconsin make for the support of evening schools. 

Though public evening schools have undoubtedly per- 
formed valuable service, they do not, as at present con- 
stituted, offer a solution to the problem of industrial educa- 
tion for the following reasons : 

(i) The curriculum is so elementary that it offers little 
opportunity for the boy at work to improve his position. 

(2) The teaching force is always overworked and often 
incompetent. In 1914-15 each teacher (upon the average) 
instructed forty pupils.^ This ratio is far too high. Ap- 
proximately 60% of these teachers, moreover, also taught 
in the day school as well. Double work of this sort is so 
exhausting that no one can continue to do justice to both 
positions. 

* Report Commissioner of Education, 1916, vol. ii, pp. 72-75, 



238 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [444 

Furthermore, the teachers who instruct in the night 
school are generally less efficient than the teachers in the 
day schools. They are either new teachers gaining exper- 
ience in night work or those whose scholastic rank is low 
and who are, in consequence, confined to night work. The 
number of night-school teachers is also swelled by many 
who follow some other occupation by day and do night- 
teaching in order to earn a supplementar}'- income. To this 
latter class, teaching is but an auxiliary line of effort, a 
crutch to help them hobble along, not the main course of 
interest. Few of them know anything about pedagogy 
and their technique is of the scantiest. Because of all 
these factors, enthusiastic and efficient teaching is a rarity 
in the public evening schools. 

(3) The students who are working by day are generally 
so tired that they cannot profit from the instruction given. 

Modem industry is essentially exhausting. Manufactur- 
ing, clerical and commercial occupations are geared at high 
speed, and an adolescent has little or no surplus energy to 
expend after a day's work. To expect faithful attendance 
at, and close attention in an evening school which itself 
seems inefficient and tired is to expect an impossibility. 

The following table shows in round numbers, the enorm- 
ous loss in attendance w^hich evening schools experience.^ 

Year Total number enrolled Average daily Percentage daily attend- 
in evening schools attendance ance of total enrollment 

190&-09 379,000 155,000 4M% 

1909-10 374,000 145,000 39-6% 

1911-12 420,000 149,000 35-6% 

These statistics are corroborated by those of New York 
City. Ever since public evening schools were opened in 
1847, irregular attendance has been a constant characteristic. 

*See Reports Commissioner of Education, 1910, vol. ii, p. 689; 1912, 
vol. ii, p. 30. 



445] EVENING AND CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS 239 

In the first year, only 35% of those enrolled attended upon 
the average; forty years later, in 1887, the percentage was 
33.8, while in 1910-11 it was 34.1.^ It is safe to conclude, 
therefore, that evening schools instruct upon the average 
only slightly over one-third of those who enroll. Miss Van 
Kleeck found that in New York, 8% of those who enrolled 
never attended even one session.^ These may be written off 
as complete deadwood. A comprehensive treatment of any 
scheduled subject cannot be given with this irregular atten- 
dance, and all logical continuity is destroyed. 

Even to those who attend faithfully, the evening school 
is essentially unsatisfactory. The students are tired from 
the day's work and cannot concentrate upon their studies. 
The teaching is generally listless and there is an air of 
irrelevancy about the whole situation that leads the mind 
to go ''wool-gathering.'* As Miss Van Kleeck says, "the 
facts seem to us to show conclusively that if a system of 
compulsory continuation schools for young wage-earners 
is to be developed, their sessions must be held by day and 
not by night." ^ 

J. Correspondence Schools 

Correspondence schools are really schools outside work- 
ing hours conducted at long range. A few students may 
devote their entire time to the course of studies and for 
these, the correspondence schools are trade preparatory and 
not continuation schools. The vast majority, however, 
take correspondence courses as a supplement to their daily 
work. These courses are used to accomplish the three in- 
dustrial purposes of continuation schools, /. e., to pre- 

*See Mary Van Kleeck, Working Girls in Evening Schools, pp. 
143-148- 
'Van Kleeck, op. cit., p. 145. 
• Van Kleeck, op. cit., p. 165. 



240 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [446 

pare a worker for the job he is then engaged at; to prepare 
him for higher positions within the same industry; and to 
prepare him for other industries. The last two purposes 
are of course stressed more by the correspondence schools 
than the first. 

The two varieties of correspondence schools, like the 
evening schools, are public and private. The public corres- 
pondence schools are usually attached to the universities 
of the country. In 191 3, thirty-two colleges and universi- 
ties gave correspondence courses with a total enrollment of 
approximately 20,000.'- The Universities of Chicago and 
Wisconsin have been the pioneers in this field and have 
given instruction to tens of thousands by means of corres- 
pondence. The Massachusetts Board of Education has re- 
cently instituted a state extension system which is largely 
based upon the correspondence idea. 

In all these public systems the courses given are mainly 
cultural and not directly vocational.^ Subjects such as 
literature, language, history, education, etc., seem indeed to 
be the most popular. It would be erroneous to conclude that 
no vocational courses are offered, since the Universities of 
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and the Michigan State Col- 
lege of Agriculture offer courses in engineering, agriculture, 
industry, and business. But such work is distinctly subor- 
dinated to the cultural instruction. 

The correspondence schools conducted for profit are far 
more important in point of numbers enrolled than are those 
conducted primarily for public service. Due to the multi- 
plicity of such private schools and to their secrecy, it is im- 
possible to secure statistics which will accurately indicate 
their influence and importance. An estimate of several 

* Louis E. Reber, " University Extension in the United States," 
Bulletin, 1914, U. S. Bureau of Education, No. 19, p. 20. 

^For analysis of courses given, see Reber, op. cit., pp. 21-26. 



^7] EVENING AND CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS 241 

hundred thousand pupils enrolled would be, however, most 
conservative. Some of these schools are downright frauds, 
giving little or no instruction in return for the fees 
paid. Most of the schools of caricaturing and drawing are 
of this stamp. Others have as their main purpose, the 
sale of a set of books and are really book-firms instead of 
correspondence schools. Still others specialize in corres- 
pondence work but give inadequate instruction, while there 
are some very reputable concerns which offer a fair degree 
of opportunity to the student. 

The curriculum of this class of correspondence schools is 
completely practical. Few or no cultural subjects are in- 
cluded. The sole standard that a student of this class of 
school considers is " will this raise my pay-check? " There 
is consequently a multitude of courses offered in the fields 
of engineering, business, agriculture, etc. 

Though a great deal of incidental good is done in 
furnishing instruction to ambitious young men, the private 
correspondence schools constitute in the main, a vicious and 
inefficient system of education for the following reasons: 
(i) Many of them are fraudulent. It is difficult for the 
post-office authorities to detect whether or not a concern 
is doing a legitimate business. By liberal advertising, it 
is possible for a company to reap a harvest before a fraud 
order can be issued. It is possible, moreover, for a concern 
to stay within the letter of the law and yet exploit its 
patrons. (2) The degree of efficiency, even among the 
technically honest firms, is not high. A staff of ill-paid 
clerks is generally employed at answering letters and reply- 
ing to questions. Even though the work is standardized, 
these people cannot furnish complete and accurate informa- 
tion or high-grade instruction. (3) The charges for tuition 
are too high. The fees per course vary from $20. upwards ; 
the average charge by the International Correspondence 



242 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [448 

Schools beino^ $7=;. This constitutes a severe drain upon a 
poor man's resources, and their collection is only possible, 
because they are paid in installments rather than in a liunp 
sum. Were the tuition fees actually invested in the educa- 
tional side of the business, no complaint could of course be 
made, but such is not the case. (4) An enormous amount 
is wasted in competitive advertising and canvassing. Most 
of the expenses of a modern correspondence school are in- 
deed in the sales and not in the educational department. 
One large school claiming an enrollment of 350,000 pupils 
had twenty branch offices each with its quota of salesmen 
and employed in all over 2,500 people. Only 370 of these 
were, however, connected with the educational work! 
Fifteen percent of the force was devoted to the actual in- 
struction itself, while eighty-five was employed in the ad- 
ministration and sales side of the business. This indicates 
a shocking disproportion of energy and resources, and is 
one that would not exist under a publicly operated system 
with the wastes of competition eliminated. 

( 5 ) A further criticism of private correspondence schools 
is that only a small percentage ever finish the courses that 
they begin. Veiled in secrecy as the records are, only esti- 
mates are possible. The Minnesota Department of Labor 
Statistics found that less than one-third of those who began 
courses in Minneapolis, finished them.^ The percentage, 
for the country, as a whole, of those who complete their 
course is probably even less. The Canadian Commission on 
Technical Education declared it to be as low as 5 or 10 
percent.^ 

(6) Finally, correspondence school courses even at their 

^ " Vocational Survey of Minneapolis, Minn.." Bulletin igg. United 
States Bureau of Labor Statistics, p. 113. 

2 Report Canadian Commission on Industrial Training and Technical 
Education, pt. iv. p. 1688. 



449] EVENING AND CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS 243 

best, are a decidedly unsatisfactory means of education and 
should be u^sed only as a last resort. The instruction lacks 
personal touch; there is an inevitable delay in replying to 
questions which is generally at least as long as a week, and 
sometimes a fortnight or a month. This robs the study 
of much of its interest and the student soon loses heart and 
generally drops out. These schools cannot be called a solu- 
tion, in any real sense, of the problem of industrial educa- 
tion. 

The huge numbers who have sought further technical 
education at their hands is, however, adequate proof of the 
fact that the present educational system of the countr}^ has 
failed to meet the needs of the times. Because of the lack 
of a better system, men have turned to privately managed 
schools both at long and short range to secure the training 
that they have needed. 



CHAPTER XI 
Part-time Schools 

I. Introduction. 

There are two varieties of part-time schools : ( i ) The 
co-operative school, (2) the part-time continuation school. 
These schools differ from evening schools in that they 
operate within and not without working hours, and that 
children at work are excused to attend them. 

The typical co-operative school alternates school and shop 
training, giving school training to one set of students for a 
week, or some such period, and then sending this group to 
work in some industry and taking in another group who 
have been employed in industry the preceding week. 
After another period, the process is reversed. There is 
thus an alternation between school and shop, between theory 
and practice. The typical part-time continuation school 
on the other hand takes all the workers for a few hours 
every week. The continuation and co-operative schools 
are alike in that they give training within working hours 
but they differ in the following respects : ( i ) In the co- 
operative schools, there is a rotation of men from school to 
shop which does not exist in the continuation school. (2) 
The co-operative school generally takes students and finds a 
place for them in industry, while the continuation school 
takes boys and girls already engaged in industry and gives 
them school training. (3) Much more time is devoted to 
school work under the co-operative than under the con- 
244 [450 



45 1 ] PART-TIME SCHOOLS 245 

tinuation school. Whatever the length of the " shifts " in 
the former system, the proportions devoted to school and 
shop respectively are approximately half and half. In the 
continuation schools on the other hand, the hours devoted to 
school work are never more than eight a week or less than 
16% of the normal working time of the child laborer. (4) 
The work in the co-operative school is closely co-ordinated 
with that of the shop and the work of the students in the in- 
dustry itself is supervised by the school authorities. In the 
continuation school, on the other hand, the school training 
is merely super-imposed upon the shop work and the school 
authorities do not interfere with the work done in the in- 
dustry itself. (5) Typically, attendance at the co-operative 
school is voluntary while attendance at the continuation 
school is generally compulsory. The co-operative school is 
established and maintained by the voluntary co-operation of 
employers with the educational authorities. The part-time 
continuation schools in the United States are in the main 
compulsory upon both the employer and juvenile worker. 
(6) The curriculum of the co-operative school is almost 
wholly designed to increase the technical efficiency of the 
individual worker while that of the continuation school 
normally lays considerable stress upon the social aspects of 
industry and life. This difference in the curriculum is 
probably occasioned because attendance is voluntary in the 
co-operative school while it is generally compulsory for the 
continuation school. In the former case, the educational 
authorities are forced to bid for the support of the em- 
ployers and the employers naturally demand that the school 
curriculum be made more practical and be confined to sub- 
jects of almost immediate trade value. As a report of the 
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Co-operative Plan says: 

From the first, the employers who offered their assistance in- 



246 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [432 

sisted that the course be such as to make those going into it 
better mechanics, capable of advancing to the highest possibiH- 
ties in the trade. The prescribed studies of the ordinary 
courses that were included in the cooperative industrial course 
were, as a rule, changed in form and structure. Many of the 
time-honored courses were carefully shelved, and such subjects 
were selected as would fit the students to be intelligent me- 
chanics and thoughtful artisans.^ 

The continuation school is not compelled to offer such 
inducements to attract a clientele. Courses in industrial 
history, industrial hygiene, civics, etc., are therefore more 
common in the continuation than in the co-operative schools. 

2. Co-operative Schools. 

( I ) The Co-o{>erative system of the University of Cin- 
cinnati. 

Dean Herman Schneider is the originator of the co-opera- 
tive system of education. While an instructor at Lehigh 
University, he conceived the idea of co-ordinating the Uni- 
versity work with the large industrial plants in Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania. Some of the Lehigh graduates were work- 
ing for two years as apprentices in the local plant after 
graduation. It occurred to Professor Schneider that the 
apprentice course and the college work could be combined 
in a six-year course with alternate weeks of work and study. 
This method, he believed, would solve a number of pro- 
blems. First, it would avoid a duplication of shop-equip- 
ment. This would at once enable the student to work with 
up-to-date equipment, a practical impossibility for a vSchool 
to supply, and it would relieve the University of the ex- 
pense of maintaining elaborate mechanical laboratories. 
Secondly, it would free the University curriculum of purely 

^ M. R, McCann, " The Fitchburg Plan of Co-operative Education," 
U. S. Bureau of Education, Bull, 1913, No. 50, p. 13. 



453J PART-TIME SCHOOLS 247 

descriptive courses, knowledge of which could be better 
obtained in the industry itself. Finally, since the students 
would be earning money while they studied, many worth 
while men would be enabled to attend college who other- 
wise would not be able to do so. Though the plan was 
favored by practising engineers, it was rejected by the 
Lehigh authorities. 

When Professor Schneider accepted a position at the 
University of Cincinnati in 1903, however, he convinced 
the University authorities of the soundness of the plan and 
in 1906, a beginning was made to put it into effect. 

Twelve industrial plants and 28 students contracted to 
begin the work which was mapped out to cover a six-year 
period with alternate weeks at the University and in the 
shop, together with a three-months period of complete shop- 
work during the summer. The students were to be grouped 
in pairs, the men taking turns working at a machine and at- 
tending classes. This prevented any discontinuity in the 
work of the plant. The manufacturer on his part guaranteed 
to move the student-worker about from position to position. 
Thus, in the electrical engineering course, the manufacturer 
guaranteed to employ and train the boy for a year and a 
half in the foundry, for the next year and a half in the 
machine shop, for two years in the commutation, controller, 
winding, erecting, and testing departments and the remain- 
ning year in the drafting rooms. 

The plan was threatened with disaster at the start since 
Dean Schneider required all of the candidates, in the summer 
before entrance, to work in some manufacturing plant. The 
hard work in hot weather discouraged all but six or eight 
and Dean Schneider was compelled to fill up the ranks from 
those who were insufficiently prepared. Over 400 inquiries 
from prospective students were received during the first 
year and a large percentage of these made formal application 



248 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [454 

for admission/ By 191 1, the experimental period was over 
and the system could well be called a success. By that 
time a number of changes in the original plan had been 
made: (a) The six years course of 9 months per year was 
changed into a five years course running f or 1 1 months per 
year, (b) The period of alternation between shop and 
college was lengthened from one to two weeks, (c) The 
iron-clad contract with the employers was modified and the 
employers w^ere given power to change a worker whenever 
desirable. The shop-work was checked by the University 
authorities to prevent a boy from being kept at one operation 
too long, (d) The business side of the undertaking was 
taken from the instructional stafT and given to a special 
official. 

The Cincinnati plan was designed for University men but 
it has been copied by several cities who applied the principle 
to co-operation between the high schools and industry. The 
system has thus spread downward in the educational scale. 

(2) The Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Plan of Co-operative 
Education. 

The Fitchburg system is a direct outgrowth of the Cincin- 
nati plan. Dean Schneider on one occasion described his 
system to a group of metal manufacturers, among whom 
was Mr. Daniel Simonds of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Mr. 
Simonds became very enthusiastic over the plan and suc- 
ceeded in inducing the school authorities of his city to start 
it in connection with the high-school work. 

A director with both shop training and technical educa- 
tion, was employed and in the first year 18 pupils were re- 
gistered in the course. The main features of the plan are : 
(a) The course covers three years. One year of regular 

^ C. W. Park, " The Cooperative System of Education," U. S. Bureau 
of Education, Bull, 19 16, No. 37, p. 13. 



^-^] PART-TIME SCHOOLS 249 

high-school work being required before the pupil is eligible 
for entrance, (b) A preliminary^ summer must be spent in 
the shops to test the capabilities of the boy. (c) An alter- 
nation of weekly periods between school and shop with a 
consequent pairing off of students, (d) Signing of an 
agreement or '' indenture " by parents and manufacturer. 
The parent contracts that the boy will complete the school 
course unless prevented by very unusual circumstances, while 
the latter contracts to teach the boy the trade mentioned in 
the agreement, (e) The boy is to be paid wages beginning 
at 10 cents per hour and finishing at 12^ cents or a total of 
about $550 for the three years course, (f) The creation of 
a director who was to supervise the school and shop work 
of the boys and co-ordinate the two. 

Since its inception in 1908, the plan has flourished. 
From 1908 to 191 3 a total of 134 boys had been enrolled and 
at that time, about 55 boys were taking the course.^ The 
boys graduated have in general gone out into the trade for 
which they have been prepared and their comments upon 
the system are very enthusiastic.^ 

(3) The Beverly, Massachusetts, Plan. 

This system, which was instituted in 1909, is unique in 
several features. A separate school, called the Beverly In- 
dustrial School, was created, which was limited to 50 
pupils who were to alternate between shop work and school 
in groups of 25. The United Shoe Machinery Company 
agreed to fit up a separate department in their factory to 
accommodate the 25 boys. These boys were to be given 
all the necessary equipment and trained to be full-fledged 

^ M. R. McCann, " The Fitchburg Plan of Co-operative Industrial 
Education," U. S. Bureau of Education Bull, 1913, No. 50, p. 28. 

•See fifteen commendatory statements by former pupils quoted in 
"Vocational Letter No. 7" U. S. Bureau of Education, May, 191 5. 



250 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [456 

machinists. The company moreover contracted to furnish 
the material and purchase the product at established prices. 
One-half of the price is given to the pupil and the remainder 
goes toward the maintenance of the school shop, while any 
deficit is made up by the company itself. 

The theoretical instruction is given in high school build- 
ings by a separate staff and the system is administered by 
a board of industrial education, controlled by the city school 
board, but upon which the manufacturers have representa- 
tion. No formal indenture is required, and boys over 14, 
who have completed the 6th grade, are eligible for entrance.^ 

(4) The Textile Industrial Institute of Spartansburg, 
S. C 

This is a half-time school supported by private contribu- 
tions and subsidies from cotton mills. School instruction 
is given in the common branches and practical courses in 
homemaking subjects. It is designed to train superinten- 
dents and overseers for the cotton mills of the South. 

(5) The Co-operative System of York, Pennsylvania. 
This follows the alternative week plan. Manufacturers 

in the following trades co-operate with the high school 
authorities : machine construction, pattern-making, cabinet- 
making, plumbing, auto-repairing, molding and electrical 
work. Over $32,000 was earned by the boys in the first 
four years of the system. An interesting development in 
York has been the creation of an auxiliar}'^ shop, under the 
control of the school. It was found that it was necessary 
to build a separate school shop to insure the students se- 
curing all-round training. Thus the co-operative plan in 
York at least has encountered the same difficulty wliich 
spelled ruin for the old apprenticeship system. 

* See the First Annual Report of the Trustees of the Industrial School 
of Beverly, Massachusetts, 1910, pp. 5-28. 



^^37] PART-TIME SCHOOLS 25 1 

(6) The Co-operative System in New York City. 

The introduction of the co-operative system into New 
York City is the direct resuh of the labors of Dean Schneider. 
In 19 1 4 lie was employed as an educational expert by the 
city, and the Board of Education upon his recommenda- 
tion installed the plan. As in Fitchburg, a preliminary 
year of high school work is required and unit periods of a 
week are used. The school work is co-ordinated with 
the shop experience, mathematics, for instance, being treated 
from the standpoint of shop problems. 9 high schools and 
87 firms co-operated for the year 191 6 in taking care of 
486 pupils. The weekly earnings of the pupils averaged 

$5.78,^ 

(7) Other experiments. 

Solvay, New York has adopted the co-operative plan in 
connection with its high school work. The Lewis Institute 
of Chicago also uses it for some of its students, while 
the Cincinnati Public School system has established a co- 
operative course for the training of messenger boys. Cen- 
tralia township in Illinois has recently put the co-operative 
plan into practice, while Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, has tried 
the system in co-operation with various industries and dur- 
ing the last year has worked out an especially close rela- 
tionship with the department stores of that city.^ Little 
Rock, Arkansas, has recently adopted an interesting variant 
of the usual co-operative plan in its school for printers. 
Instead of the usual week and week about system, the Little 
Rock plan calls for five half days in school each week and 
six half days in the industry itself.* 

' " Experiments in Industrial Education in New York City 1916" 
National Child Labor Committee Pamphlet, No. 263, p. 12. 

•See Edward Rynearson, "The Pittsburg Co-operative Plan," School 
Review, September. 1919. pp. 533-44. 
* Vocational Summary, September, 1919, p. 95. 



252 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [458 

J. Fart-Time Continuation Schools. 

In the United States, the part-time continuation school 
has been a development of the last ten years. How recent 
has been its growth in this country' can be seen from the 
fact that when Arthur J. Jones in 1907 wrote his monograph 
on The Continuation School in the United States, he did 
not mention the type of school that we now regard as " the 
continuation school." 

The development of the continuation school principle in 
the United States may be divided into two periods : ( i ) 
The agitational and experimental period prior to the passage 
of the Smith-Hughes law. (2) The period since the pas- 
sage of the Smith-Hughes act, marked by its adoption by 
nearly a score of states. 

The real movement for the establishment of part-time 
continuation schools began in 1910 when Ohio passed the 
first law definitely referring to continuation schools. More 
important still, was the tour of the country in the same 
year by Dr. George Kirchensteiner, the celebrated founder 
of the Munich system of continuation schools.^ Dr. 
Kirchensteiner's influence was increased by the prestige then 
popularly attached to Germany's " efficiency " methods. Dr. 
Kirchensteiner very strongly emphasized the fact that the 
German system of industrial education was not based upon 
the all-day trade-school, as people had assumed, but instead 
upon the part-time continuation school. Drawing upon his 
own experience. Dr. Kirchensteiner pled for the adoption 
of the system in the United States. 

As a result of Dr. Kirchensteiner's visit, the leaders of 
the movement for industrial education in this country came 
to understand the real nature of the continuation school and 

*Dr. Kichensteiner's tour was under the auspices of the National 
Societj' for the Promotion of Industrial Education. 



459] PART-TIME SCHOOLS 253 

many of them became enthusiastic advocates of it. From 
this time on, the continuation school movement gained 
ground with every year. Prior to the passage of the 
Smith-Hughes Act in 19 17, seven states (Ohio, Wisconsin, 
New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Indiana and Penn- 
sylvania) had made some form of legislative provision for 
continuation schools and various systems were being put 
into effect. The laws and developments in each of these 
states prior to 191 7 will now be considered in turn. 

(i) Ohio. In 1 910 the Ohio legislature passed an act 
specifying that : " Any board of education may require 
children, between the ages of fifteen and sixteen years who 
are employed, to attend continuation schools not to exceed 
eight hours per week between the hours of 8 A. M. and 5 
P. M." ^ The act further provided that all minors over 
fifteen and sixteen who had not completed the sixth grade 
in required subjects should be required to attend school for 
a corresponding period of time.^ 

Since the Ohio Law did not require local boards to estab- 
lish continuation schools but merely permitted them to do 
so, and since no state aid was given to those localities 
which might take advantage of the act, little could be ex- 
pected from the law. Cincinnati was, in fact, the only 
Ohio city which installed continuation schools. Even here, 
however, not all employed children between fifteen and six- 
teen were required to attend but rather only narrowly re- 
stricted classes. In the year 19 14-15, the number of pupils 
enrolled in these continuation schools was only 951.^ This 
figure included a considerable number of students under the 

* " Digest of State Laws Relating to Public Education," Bull. United 
States Bureau of Education, 1915, No. 47, p. 550. 

Ubid.,p. 550. 

*86th Annual Report of the Cincinnati Public Schools for year 
ending August 31, 1915, pp. 33^343- 



254 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [460 

cooperative plan who were not really attendants of part- 
time continuation schools. The per capita cost of instruc- 
tion in these continuation schools was as follows : ^ 

Year Cost per Student 

1905HIO $12.32 

1910-1 1 20.50 

1911-12 8.70 

1912-13 913 

1913-14 9-44 

1914-15 7-26 

(2) Wisconsin. In 1911, the Wisconsin Legislature 
passed a series of acts providing that the various kx:al 
boards of education in localities of over 5,000 population 
must establish an industrial, commercial, continuation or 
evening school upon petition of twenty-five persons quali- 
fied to attend these schools. Whenever such a school was 
established for minors between fourteen and sixteen, every 
such child must attend it for not less than five hours a week 
for six months in a year and their employers must allow 
these minors a corresponding reduction in the hours of 
work. Other features of the act were: (a) the establish- 
ment of a liberal system of state aid to such schools: (b) 
the revision of the apprentice laws so that all apprentices 
must receive at least five hours of instruction per week ; and 
(c) the creation of a state board of industrial education." 

By a law which went into effect July i, 1916, the age of 
compulsory attendance was raised from 16 to 17 years and 
the number of hours required for school per week was in- 
creased from 5 to 8.* Furthermore, the length of the 

« 

*This includes the voltmtary attendance at these continuation schcx)ls, 
ibid., p. 355- 

^Report Commissioner of Education, 191 1, vol. i. pp. 306-07. also 
Bull. No. 2, Wisconsin State Board of Industrial Education, p. 4. 

'This requirement was not to be imposed for the 16 year old class 
until September i, 1918. Till then only four hours a week were required. 



461] PART-TIME SCHOOLS 255 

schcx)l year was increased from six to eight months. In 
these ways, therefore, the amoimt of continuation school 
training required was more than trebled. 

The enrollment in the day and evening continuation 
schools during the year ending June 30th, 191 7, was ap- 
proximately 38,000. Such schools are in operation in all 
of the 30 cities of the state. The total cost of these 
schools was about $700,000 for the year of which the 
state pays approximately one-half. The average cost f)er 
student was $18 a year. 

(3) The New York Law of 1913- 

In 19 1 3, the Education Law was amended so that, it per- 
mitted local boards of e<:lucation to establish continuation 
schools 

in which instruction shall be given in the trades and in indus- 
trial, agricultural, and homemaking subjects and which shall 
be open to pupils over fourteen years of age who are regularly 
and lawfully employed during a part of the day in any useful 
employment or service, which subjects shall be supplementary 
to the practical work carried on in such employments. - 

Should such continuation schools for employed children 
between fourteen and sixteen be established the local board 
of education was given the power to require the attendance 
of any person within this age period. In addition to this 

* Respective amounts of time required for continuation schools by 
Wisconsin Acts of 191 1 and 1916. 

Act Years Weeks 

1911 ^ X 26 X 

1916 3 X 35 (app) X 

' U. S. Bureau, of Education, 1915, Bulletin 47, " State Laws Relating 
to Public Education," pp. 698-99; Bulletin University of State of New 
York, No, 542, May i, 1913, pp. 16-17. 







Total number 


ours per 




of hours 


Week 




required 


5 


:= 


260 


8 


rr: 


840 



2cj5 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [462 

every boy between fourteen and sixteen not graduated from 
elmentary schools must take not less than six hours of 
school work a week for sixteen weeks. 

State aid was provided for any continuation school run- 
ning thirty-six weeks and having one full-time teacher and 
a minimum of fifteen pupils. This subsidy was to be twc^- 
thirds the salary of such a teacher but not to exceed a 
total of $icoo per school'^ and in the year 191 6- 17 these 
were attended by only 163 children between the ages of 14 
and 16!^ As we shall see, New York has since passed a 
compulsory continuation-school law. 

(4) New Jersey. The New Jersey Vocational School 
Law of 19 1 3 gave permission to the various school dis- 
tricts to establish part-time continuation schools. State aid 
to an amount equal to that raised by the district (exclusive 
of buildings but not to exceed $10,000 for any one district) 
was pledged.^ Despite this subsidy, only one continuation 
school had been established by 191 6 with a total of fifty- 
seven pupils.* New Jersey has since passed a compulsory 
continuation-school law. 

( 5 ) Massachusetts. Massachusetts was the pioneer state 
in real industrial education. The celebrated Report of the 
Douglas Commission in 1906 caused the state to provide 
state aid for vocational education. The dominant ideal at 
that time however was that of the all-day trade school but 
the inadequacies which this system displayed soon forced 
the adoption of other plans as w^ell. 

* U. S. Bureau of Education, 1915, Bulletin 47, op. cit., pp. 698-99. 
^News Letter National Society Promotion Industrial Education. 

May, 19 1 7, P- 21. 

'"Digest of State Laws Relating to Public Education," Bull. U. S. 
Bureau of Education, 1915, No. 47, p. 697. 

* News Letter, National Society Promotion Industrial Education, May, 
1917, p. 21. 



^^^-^ PART-TIME SCHOOLS 257 

In 191 1, trade extension schools, with voluntary attend- 
ance, and open to persons between fourteen and twenty- 
five, were authorized/ An investigation of the general ques- 
tion of part-time education was also authorized and in 191 3 
the State Board of Education submitted its report recom- 
mending the establishment of continuation schools. The 
Board recommended that all unemployed children between 
fourteen and sixteen be compelled to attend school and 
that the local boards of education be empowered to require 
the attendance of children of these ages at a continuation 
school for at least four hours a week.^ The legislature 
accordingly enacted that 

the school committee of any city or town may, with the ap- 
proval of the state board of education, require that every child 
who is over fourteen and under sixteen years of age, and who 
is regularly employed not less than six hours a day, shall at- 
tend at the rate of not less than four hours per week during 
the time that such school is in actual session.^ 

This was a permissive-mandatory law in which the legisla- 
ture declined to make attendance compulsory but permitted 
local boards of education to do so if they deemed fit. 

Boston was the only city to take advantage of this law. 
In 191 5, the first continuation schools were opened in that 
city and the enrollment for the year 191 5-16 was 3,300, em- 
ploying 39 teachers.* 

The continuation schools were intended to be of three 
varieties: (a) those to extend the general education of the 

^Acts of 191 1, chapter 471, section i, paragraph 7, and section 3. 

'^'^ Needs and Possibilities of Part-Time Education," a Report by the 
Massa£husetts Board of Education, 1913, pp. 21-23. 

• House Bill No. 424, Massachusetts Acts 1913. 

* News Letter, National Society Promotion Industrial Education 1917, 
p. 20. 



258 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [464 

pupil; (b) prevocational continuation schools, to give the 
employed child practical experience in several trades, fur- 
nish information about various industries and assist, 
through vocational guidance in selecting an occupation; (c) 
vocational continuation schools; these last were to give 
actual vocational instruction. This last class in turn was 
composed of two further varieties, (i) trade preparatory, 
(2) trade extension schools. The former was to give 
training in occupations unrelated to those followed by the 
pupils during the working day. Its aim was to teach 
skilled trades to those not already engaged in them or to al- 
low pupils to change from present occupations to more 
congenial ones for which they are better adapted. The 
Trade Extension School, on the other hand was to train 
the pupil in subjects closely connected with the work at 
which he w-as employed and give him practical training in 
the advanced processes of his particular trade.^ 

The curricula of these varied types quite naturally dif- 
fered. All the schools were to give 25% of their time to 
general training for citizenship, to include courses in civics, 
personal and industrial hygiene, together with recreation, 
and cultural subjects. The general improvement school, 
however, devotes 50% of its time to such subjects as Eng- 
lish, arithmetic, geography, and history. These are de- 
signed to remove the previous deficiencies of the pupil and 
add to his general resources. The remaining 25% is to 
be spent in the discovery and development of the pupil's voca- 
tional interests and powers. The pre- vocational school, 
on the other hand, devotes 50% of its time to shop-work and 
25% to vocational guidance, while the vocational continua- 
tion schools devotes 75% of its time to actual shop-work and 

' For a more detailed description of these types, see Bulletin of the 
Massachusetts Board of Education, 1915, number 6, whole number 43, 
pp. 9-10. 



465] PART-TIME SCHOOLS 259 

related subjects. In 1919, Massachusetts referred the 
question of compulsory part-time attendance to a referen- 
dum vote of all localities where there were more than 200 
employed minors from 14 to 16. It is significant that every 
city voted to require such schools. 

(6) Indiana. In 191 3 Indiana established a system of 
state-aided vocational schools and among the types pro- 
vided for by law was the continuation school. The act 
authorized the local boards to require all children be- 
tween fourteen and sixteen years who were regularly em- 
ployed to attend school not less than five hours a week be- 
tween the hours of 8 A. M. and 5 P. M.^ State aid to the 
extent of two-thirds of the cost of instruction was extended 
to those schools approved by the state board of education, 
and a special tax levy of one cent upon every hundred 
dollars of taxable property was made to provide fimds for 
this purpose.^ 

The state board of education announced that state aid 
would be extended only to those schools which gave *' in- 
struction in the present wage-earning occupations of the 
pupils, instruction designed to make them more efficient and 
productive workmen in that occupation or trade." Schools 
which aimed to increase the general intelligence of the 
workers were not to receive assistance. The board de- 
clared that though, " it is important to provide a means 
whereby the workers who have gotten into blind-alley jobs, 
may be able to fit themselves for more skilled occupations, 
a school having this for its aim cannot be state aided under 
the law."^ The part-time continuation schools that have 

* House Bill No, loi, Indiana Legislature, approved February 23, 1913, 
section 11. 

^Ibid., section 14. 

' " Vocational Education in Indiana," Bull. No. 6, Vocational No. 4, 
Indiana Department of Public Instruction, p. 25. 



26o INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [466 

been established are for apprentices and workers between 
14 and 25 years who are engaged in skilled trades. Mr. 
Book says, *' No general continuation work for young 
people engaged in juvenile or temporary occupations has as 
yet been organized because this type of education was not 
state-aided by our law." ^ 

The narrowness of this system can be readily seen. It 
does not provide for boys and girls in blind-alley trades and 
thereby ignores the majority of juvenile labor. Confining 
its attention, as it does, solely to the occupation at which 
the young worker is engaged, it does not permit him to pre- 
pare himself for other and better occupations. It is ex- 
tremely doubtful, moreover, whether it permits him to edu- 
cate himself for more responsible positions in the same in- 
dustry. The general social purposes are pared to a mini- 
mum, only the course of civics being required. 

During the year 191 5-16, Indiana had thirty-three part- 
time schools (including co-operative schools) with a total 
enrollment of 235. Day courses in homemaking for 
women, which may be called continuation schools, enrolled 
a total of 1970. 

(7) Pennsylvania. In 191 3, Pennsylvania provided for 
the establishment of a system of compulsory continuation 
schools in connection with a stringent child-labor law. The 
continuation school law reads, " It shall be unlawful for any 
person to employ any minor between fourteen and sixteen 
years of age, unless such minor shall during the period of 
such employment, attend, for a period, or periods, not less 
than eight hours each week, a school approved by the state 
superintendent of public instruction." ^ 

Children employed on farms or in domestic service are 

^W. F. Book, "Vocational Education in Indiana," Educational Admin- 
istration and Supervision, vol. iii, p. 451 (October, 1917). 

'Act of General Assembly, No. 177, Laws of Pennsylvania 1915, sec. 3. 



^Sy] PART-TIME SCHOOLS 261 

not subject to this act, although all other children are. These 
continuation schools may be conducted in schoolhouses or in 
factories and stores. They must not be held on either 
Saturday or Sunday and must be between the hours of 
8 A. M. and 5 P. M. 

When a school district has fullfilled the regulations of 
the department of public instruction, such district receives 
$200 annually for every teacher having had three or more 
years of teaching experience, and $150 for every teacher 
having had one to three years of experience. The state also 
pays 50% of the cost of equipment in such a school. The 
proportions of the school time devoted to various branches 
are as follows: (a) 40% to academic subjects and general 
education. This includes English, composition, industrial 
geography, hygiene, (personal, industrial and social) and 
civics, (b) 20% to fixed vocational subjects applicable to 
all industries. This includes industrial mathematics with 
problems specifically adapted to industrial bookkeeping. 
Another required subject is shop-sketching and free-hand 
drawing, (c) 30% to variable vocational subjects. This 
includes the study of the machines and processes at which 
the pupil is employed during the day. The local board is 
given the power of constructing a curriculum of this por- 
tion of the time.^ 

For the year 191 5-16, three hundred and fifty-one con- 
tinuation schools employed 372 teachers and had a total en- 
rollment of 35,628 pupils, which had increased to approxi- 
mately 40,000 by June, 191 9. 

State legislation prior to the Smith-Hughes Act, there- 
fore, was based upon conflicting attitudes on the following 
two questions : ( i ) Whether or not the state should require 

^ For a further description of the Pennsylvania system see W. E. 
Hackett, Manual Training, January, 1916, pp. 377-79. 



262 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [468 

attendance at the continuation schools. Wisconsin and 
Pennsylvania were the only states where the legislature 
made attendance compulsory for all. Massachusetts, New 
York, Ohio and Indiana had permissive mandatory laws by 
which the legislature empowered the local boards of educa- 
tion to require attendance. Experience was clearly showing, 
however, that the latter type of law was very ineffective in 
meeting the situation because of the reluctance of the local 
boards to impose any additional tax burden. Wisconsin 
and Pennsylvania, on the other hand, were demonstrating 
that state-wide compulsory continuation schools backed up 
by a system of state aid were the only effective means of 
educating the juvenile worker. (2) Whether or not the cur- 
riculum of the continuation schools should be narrowly 
vocational. As we have seen, the Indiana law permitted edu- 
cation only for the job at which the juvenile worker was 
employed and did not allow the trade preparation training 
or social subjects in the curriculum. Pennsylvania and 
Massachusetts, on the other hand, permitted a more diversi- 
fied form of education and included civic and social sub- 
jects as well as the more strictly vocational. 

The Smith-Hughes Act of 191 7 greatly accelerated the 
movement for continuation schools. The act provided that 
at least one- third of the money apportioned to the respec- 
tive state for teachers of home economics, trade and indus- 
trial subjects must be spent in part-time schools or classes 
and furthermore that the subjects taught must increase tiit 
civic or vocational intelligence of employed persons over 
fourteen years. ^ 

As a result, seventeen additional states passed compulsory 
continuation school laws in 191 8, so that there are now 
nineteen such states. The following table summarizes the 
chief provisions of these laws : 

1 Section 11 of the Act. 



469] PART-TIME SCHOOLS 263 

Provisions of Part-time Compulsory Education Laws ^ 



States 



Arizona 

California 

Illinois 

Iowa 

Massachusetts • 

Michigan 

Missouri 

Montana ■ 

Nebraska 

Nevada ■ 

New Jersey — 
New Mexico • • 

New York 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania , • 

Utah 

Washington- • • 
Wisconsin 



Minimum 

number 
of minors 
required 
to estab- 
lish 
classes 




y, r Hours 

'^^'"'^, per week 
required^ .^^^ 

attend- ^^^^^^_ 
^'^^^ ance 



5 
4 
8 
8 

4 
8 

4 

4 
8 

4 
6 

5 
4-8 

5 
8 

4 
4 



Length af School Year 



150 hours 

Same as public schools. 
Same as public schools. 
Same as public schools. 
Same as public schools. 
Same as public schools. 
Same as public schools. 
Same as public schools 

144 hours 

Same as public schools. 

36 weeks 

150 hours 

Same as public schools. 

144 hours 

Same as public schools. 
Same as public schools. 

144 hours 

Same as public schools. 
8 months 



Law 

tn 
Effect 



1919 
1920 
1921 
1919 
1920 
1920 
1919 
1919 
1919 
1919 
1920 
1919 
1919 
1919 
1919 

1913 
1919 
1920 

1911 



It will be noticed from the above table that ten states re- 
quire attendance until eighteen, one to seventeen and seven 
to sixteen years of age. The minimum age at which part- 
time education begins is almost universally fourteen save 
in Oklahoma where it is sixteen due to the fact that com- 

1 Taken from Third Annual Report, Federal Board for Vocational 
Education, December, 1919, p. 21, and paper delivered by L. H. Carris 
before National Society for Vocational Education, February 21, 1920. 
Mr. Cards' paper gives an admirable summary of this legislation. 

2 Establishment required only in cities of over 5,000 population. 

* Attendance upon evening school may be substituted. 

* Districts may organize schools upon written request of 25 residents. 

^ High school districts having 50 or more pupils must establish part- 
time classes. 



264 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [470 

pulsory full-time education is required there until sixteen. 
Nine of the states require two years of this part-time educa- 
tion, one requires three years, and nine require four years. 

The number of hours of part-time education required per 
year also varies. The Smith-Hughes Act requires that at 
least 144 hours be given before the school may receive 
federal aid and all states provide at least this amount. On 
the basis of weekly attendance, seven states require four 
hours, two require five hours, one requires six hours, six re- 
quire eight hours and one has a minimum requirement of 
four hours with a maximum of eight. Twelve states re- 
quire as many weeks for the part-time schools as for the 
other public schools. One specifies that thirty-six weeks 
should be required; another, eight months and still others 
do not specif}^ the number of weeks but fix a yearly mini- 
mum length. Taken all in all, the minimum of 144 hours 
a year is exceeded by at least seven states, most notably by 
Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

It will be noticed that the laws provide a -ninimum 
number of minors necessary to form a class ranging from 
12 in California to 200 in Massachusetts. In all but f'.ur 
states, however, not more than 20 are required. Some limi- 
tation seems to be necessary from an administrative, stand- 
point; but care should be taken lest the minimum be placed 
too high, thus preventing children in small ^owns and 
localities from receiving such training. 

The state laws almost universally require the schools to 
be held during the minors' working hours and usually state 
that they must be held between the hours of 8 \. M. and 
5 or 6 P. M. The hours spent in the part-time school are 
to be deducted from the maximum number of hours which 
the state law permits the minor to work. For instance, if 
children are allowed to work 48 hours per week and are re- 
quired to attend a part-time school for 4 hours, the number 



471 ] PART-TIME SCHOOLS 265 

of hours which a minor can legally work is thereby lowered 
to 44. Only one state, Oregon, permits the attendance at 
an evening school as a substitute for attendance at a part- 
time school. 

Most of the acts have been passed so recently, many 
having not yet gone into effect, that it is difficult to pass 
judgment upon their effectiveness. The whole movement, 
however, is a most significant step in the abolition of the 
hitherto abrupt break between school and industry and in 
extending partial educational control over the chUd for an 
additional period of time. It is probably only a que.-/:ion 
of time before the other states will enact compulsory part- 
time laws as well and the example of Wisconsin and Penn- 
sylvania rather than the permissive-mandatory laws will 
furnish the model for future legislation. 

Both the part-time continuation school and the coK)pera- 
tive school posses certain obvious advantages over the all-day 
trade school and the corporation school. Unlike the former 
they can take both those under sixteen and those who are 
poor and give them an education which admirably combines 
theory and practice, and do all this at a lower cost per pupil. 
Unlike the latter, they can apply to small plants, their teach- 
ing will be less biased and their continuation will not be 
dependent upon their pecuniary profitableness to the in- 
dividual employer. These statements should not be under- 
stood to mean that the trade school and the corporation 
school have no place. Far from it. They have a real 
place but it is a supplementary one. They cannot become 
the chief element in the system of industrial education. 

While it may have been doubtful a few years ago as to 
whether the part-time continuation school or the co-operative 
school would become the dominant form of school, this issue 
has been settled by the part-time laws passed within the 
last two years. It is the continuation school that will be- 



266 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [472 

come the corner stone for the American system of indus- 
trial education as it has been for that of Germany and, 
under the Fisher Act, has become for that of England. The 
chief reason for the adoption of the part-time school plan 
in preference to the co-operative school was perhaps its 
greater adaptability for the purpose of compulsory attend- 
ance. It was seen that voluntary attendance for further 
training would not be sufficient to cope with the problem. 
Compulsion was necessary. It would be impossible, how- 
ever, to compel attendance at school for half of the time of 
the employed boy. Such a universal requirement would 
disrupt every employer's business, cut the child's wages in 
half and impose a crushing burden of expense upon the 
state. Part-time education of from four to eight hours a 
week is less costly and disconcerting to all parties. 

The part-time continuation school, however, has at least 
two further advantages which are less frequently considered : 
( I ) There is much less danger than under the co-operative 
plan of overcrowding any particular trade with workers. 
Under the co-operative system, two sets of learners alter- 
nately occupy the same place in industry. Should the co- 
operative plan be adopted completely in any one locality, 
there would be danger that a double labor force would be 
trained which could not be assimilated upon graduation. (2) 
More than any other plan, the continuation school gives a 
greater opportunity for the abler members of the lower 
economic classes to rise in industry. 

This may perhaps be illustrated as follows. Let us re- 
present the present industrial system as a multiple-storied 
house, the first floor of which is composed of the unskilled 
jobs, the second story of the semi-skilled positions, the third 
of the skilled jobs the fourth of the high grade clerical work 
and the upper floor of the engineering and managerial posi- 
tions. How do the present occupants of these various floors 



^y^l PART-TIME SCHOOLS 267 

attain their positions ? Obviously anyone can walk in on the 
ground floor and enter the ranks of the unskilled workers. 
But how can one reach the upper floors ? It depends upon the 
system of industrial education. If the trade or the co-opera- 
tive school is the predominant method, entrance to these 
floors is only from outside of the house, not from the inside. 
There would be some passage between the unskilled and semi- 
skilled and the skilled, but it would on the whole, be slight, 
especially between the latter two classes. Once a juvenile 
entered the ground floor and joined the ranks of the un- 
skilled laborers, he must largely abandon hope of climbing 
to the upper floors. The only way to reach them would be 
by climbing the staircase outside of the building (the trade 
or co-operative school) which would open at the various 
floors and then admit him. But should he try this, he 
would be outside the building and to climb up the stairway 
would take several years. Since he was outside, he would 
not be in the industry and consequently, he would not be 
earning. Since he could not support himself while he was 
climbing the staircase, he would be forced to stay inside and 
continue working on the ground floor at unskilled labor. 

Who then would reach the upper floors? Those whose 
parents could afford to support them while they were learn- 
ing and climbing the stair case. These children could reach 
the two upper floors and join the skilled laborers and brain 
workers without ever having entered the lower floors at all. 
Thus, each group of workers would be recruited from a 
particular class and those in the lower floors could not rise 
to the upper. Such a system of industrial education, to 
carry our analogy one stage further, would be like a house 
with no inside but only outside stairways. This was the 
German system of education and inevitably produced there 
what it will produce everywhere, namely, class stratification. 
It does not give equality of economic opportunity. 



268 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [474 

The continuation school supplies those inside stairways 
that are lacking under a trade or co-operative school system 
of industrial education. It enables men to earn while learn- 
ing and hence makes it possible for them to rise from the 
bottom and helps to break down class stratification. The 
continuation school seems thus tO' be the best single system 
of industrial education that there is. The trade school, the 
corporation school, and the co-operative school can all find 
places in which they may function efficiently, but they 
should be auxiliary and subordinate to the continuation 
school. 



CHAPTER XII ^ 

Vocational Guidance 

Vocational guidance aims to direct the child into those 
occupations in which he can find the greatest efficiency and 
happiness. Upon leaving school, children now generally 
take the first job that turns up without stopping to inquire 
whether it is a position that has future promise or is one 
for which they are adapted. Says the Federal Investiga- 
tion into the Conditions of Women and Child Wage- 
Earners : 

There is much to indicate . . . that the opportunities and ad- 
vantages were alike unknown to them (the children) . Nothing 
seemed to suggest to a child the desirability of learning a trade 
or entering an industry in which he would have a chance of 
rising so he took the first thing that came to hand.^ 

Since the child rarely knows the nature of the industry 
he enters and practically never knows his own capacities, 
an enormous amount of economic and social maladjust- 
ment follows. One index of this is the rate at which 
juvenile workers change their positions, which has already 
been indicated in Chapter IV. The vast multitude of men 
and women working at distasteful jobs for which they are 
not adapted forms one of the great modern wastes of human 
energy as well as one of the chief sources of unhappiness and 
baulked human impulses. 

The vocational guidance movement seeks to lessen this 
maladjustment. Such a movement could never have arisen 

1 Report on Conditions of Women and Child Labor, Senate Doc. 645, 
6ist Congress, 2nd Session, vol. vii, p. 186. 

475] 269 



270 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [476 

in the days of handicraft : it is a product of the complexity 
of modern industry. In the small village preceding the 
Industrial Revolution a boy had only to make his choice 
between a few trades, each of which was a whole. He 
vsralked by these shops almost daily and knew the master 
workmen quite intimately. He secured most of his know- 
ledge at first hand while his father would supplement his 
information.^ Then the choice of a vocation was the re- 
sult of years of observation and was based upon an inti- 
mate knowledge of the situation. The enormous multipli- 
cation of trades, the ever-increasing division of labor, to 
gether with the widening of the area in which a workman 
can sell his labor, have destroyed all possibility of either the 
modem child or his father knowing what occupations are 
best suited for him. Vocational guidance aims to create 
a definite org:anization which will perform a function pre- 
viously carried on by the family. 

I. Stages in the Development of Vocational 

Guidance 

Formal vocational guidance in America is a product of 
only the last fifteen years. It began almost contemporane- 
ously in New York and Boston,^ but the main stream of 
influence has spread from Boston. Professor Frank 
Parsons of Boston University, a prolific writer upon social 
questions, became interested in the problem, and began talk- 
ing with children who were either at w^ork or who were 
about to beg:in. His activity ripened very naturally into the 
establishment of a vocational bureau attached to the Civic 
Service House of Boston. To this Bureau, Professor 
Parsons gave his last years before his death in 1908.^ His 

^ See Franklin's Autobiography. 

'A. H. Leake, Industrial Education, p. 155, states that organizations 
for vocational guidance had their inception in New York. 

* Prof. Parsons' book, Choosing a Vocation, was published posthu- 
mously in 1909. 



^yy-j VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 271 

work was taken up and carried on by Mr. Meyer Bloom- 
lield, who for some years was the most prominent and 
active worker in the movement. 

1. The Guidance of the Individual child. Professor 
Parsons began by personally advising a few boys and 
girls. Flesh and blood children were asking for advice, and 
the advice had to be adapted to their particular needs. 
Parsons and his followers found that to do this effectively, 
they must investigate the child's past record and form a 
first-hand opinion of his capacities. Once the child was at 
work, the advisor or "counsellor" followed him up and 
found out how the child was progressing and why. The 
entire basis was one of friendship between counsellor and 
child, and was more amiable than scientific. In this stage, 
the counsellors were largely volunteers, and anyone capable 
of teaching: a settlement class was considered capable of 
serving as a vocational adviser. 

Vocational g^uidance in most places has today not pro- 
ceeded beyond this primary stage. Tt concerns itself largely 
with individual cases and does not treat the problem en 
masse. In some cities, however, a second stage has been 
reached. 

2. The Treatment of Vocational Guidance as a Com- 
munity Problem. As vocational guidance progresses in 
a community, more and more children come to be affected by 
it. This increase may be due either to their voluntary 
request for counsel, or to the institution of counsellors in 
the public schools who are to guide students about to enter 
industry. The problem now becomes not merely how to 
place Johnnie or Susie in a good job, but how to take care 
of a hundred or a thousand boys and girls. The large 
numbers compel those in charge of vocational guidance to 
find out just how many children are wanted in the various 



2J2 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [478 

industries and what are the advantages of each. From 
the collected trade experience of children who have been 
advised, a body of data is gradually built up. 

The most prominent feature of this stage is the municipal 
survey. This is designed to cover some or all of the chief 
industries of the city to determine just what vocational 
opportunities they offer. These surveys are conducted by 
various bodies; sometimes by unofficial local societies, some- 
times by org:anizations such as the Russell Sage Founda- 
tion, or the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial 
Education, and sometimes by municipal and state agencies. 
Often they are part of a general survey of the educational 
conditions of the locality. 

Some forty surveys of varying degrees of elaborateness, 
which have been made during the last five years, have come 
to the author's knowledge.^ Undoubtedly the most im- 
portant of these are the Richmond Survey of 191 5, the 
Minneapolis Survey of 191 6 and the studies of Evansville, 
Indianapolis, and Richmond, Indiana, of 191 7. The last 
three were co5perated in by the National Society for the 
Promotion of Industrial Education. These investigations 
laid a basis of facts upon which counsellors and educators 
could build their policy. In this respect the second stage is 
really the beg-inning of scientific vocational guidance. 

J. Vocational Guidance as a Shop Policy. Within the 
last few years, the discovery of the amount of labor tum- 

1 Boston, Somerville, Holyoke, Waltham and Worchester, Mass. ; 
Bridgeport and Hartford, Conn. ; Buffalo, N. Y, City, Poughkeepsie, 
Rochester, Syracuse and Troy, N. Y. ; Jersey City, N. J. ; Duquesne, la. ; 
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Scranton and Wilkesbarre, Pa. ; Richmond, 
Va. ; Louisville, Ky. ; Winston-Salem, N. C. ; Little Rock, Ark. ; New 
Orleans, La. ; Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Dayton, Ohio ; Indianapolis, 
Richmond, Evansville, Terre Haute and Hammond, Ind. ; Chicago, 
Peoria and Springfield, 111. ; Grand Rapids, Mich. ; Duluth and Minne- 
apohs, Minn. ; Topeka, Kan. ; Sioux City, Iowa. ; Oakland, Calif. ; 
Portland, Ore. ; Seattle, Wash. 



479] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 273 

over, absenteeism and withheld effort, has caused hundreds 
of plants to create functionalized employment departments. 
These departments have taken hiring away from the shop 
foremen and have centralized it. The best conducted have 
tried to test the ability of the applicants for work, to place 
them in the proper positions, to follow them up in order 
to see whether they are succeeding and to adjust any dif- 
ficulties that may arise. This constitutes the third stage of 
vocational guidance. 

11. The Methods of Vocational Guidance 

As vocational guidance has increased in importance, its 
methods have naturally become more scientific. Both the 
children and industry itself demand accurate investigation. 
The following discussion considers the attempts made by 
vocational guidance to determine for what positions child- 
ren are fitted and what positions are best fitted for children. 

/, Determination of the Positions for which the Child is 
Best Fitted. The following principles have been advanced 
as methods whereby the capacities of the child can be 
ascertained. 

A. Determination upon the basis of the child's in- 
terests. This theory^ rtms somewhat as follows : "If a 
child is interested in an occupation, he will work hard 
at it and ultimately master it. The task then is simply to 
guide his interests. This can be done by letting him know 
about various industries, and by stimulating him to think 
about his future vocation." 

This is evidently a laissez-faire theory of vocational 
guidance and is a part of the modern movement in which 
John Dewey and Madame Montessori, have been leaders. 
This doctrine of interest should be examined from several 
standpoints, however, before it is accepted. ( i ) /^ interest 
a real index to ability? Thorndike, after an investigation 



274 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [480 

of 100 college students, concluded that if a person is in- 
terested in a subject, he generally has ability in it.^ This 
apparently conclusive study should not, however, be re- 
garded as settling the matter at issue. The students' in- 
terests v^hich were measured were in subjects that they had 
studied or were then studying. The students knew from 
first-hand contact whether or not they liked a given subject. 
Plainly this does not apply to the children about to choose 
a vocation. Their interest is based on desire, with little or 
no contact with the facts. Being prospective, not retrospec- 
tive, it is clearly no index of their ability in the given in- 
dustry. 

(2) Is the interest of a child permanent or temporary f If 
it is permanent, the child can perhaps be allowed to make its 
choice. If temporary, grave dangers immediately arise. 

Thorndike, in the study already mentioned, states that, 
" these facts unanimously witness to the importance of early 
interests. They are shown to be far from fickle and evanes- 
cent. On the contrary, the order of interests of twenty 
shows six-tenths of perfect resemblance to the order from 
II to 14, and has changed little more than the order of 
abilities has changed."" 

This study is open to the immediate criticism that the 
statistics for the earlier years were based upon memory 
which is an untrustworthy source, since one is apt to under- 
estimate changes and to overestimate permanence. But 
even if we should waive this criticism, the study would not 
prove that interests are permanent in the industrial field. 
Thorndike was measuring interest in school subjects which 
are broader classifications than specific jobs. The curriai- 
Itun can at most be divided into only a score of general 

^ E L. Thorndike, " The Permanence of Interests and their Relation 
to Abilities," Popular Science Monthly, vol. 81. pp. 449-456 (Nov.. 1912) 

' Thorndike, of>. cit., p. 455. 



48i] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 275 

subjects, while industry has thousands of occupations. A 
boy may have a permanent interest in economics, yet that 
interest may lead him equally well into law, business, rail- 
roading, banking, teaching or politics. In the same way a 
boy might have a permanent interest in " factory work.'' 
Does that determine what particular industry he will enter ? 
Moreover, does it determine the particular occupation he 
will assume in any one industry? The fact that *' general " 
interests are permanent, may narrow the field, but it does 
not settle the choice. A child's preference for a concrete 
position, such as that of civil engineer or carpenter, is not 
necessarily permanent. There is indeed a very strong pre- 
sumption that the interest of children in specific positions is 
anything but permanent. It is likely to change because the 
child himself is in the very process of change. 

(3) l^ill the children he able to indulge their interests in 
industry as it isf Qiildren are naturally interested in 
picturesque and striking occupations, but unfortunately 
there are only a few such. They are not interested in the 
routine tasks, but industry is chiefly composed of these. 
Most children desire positions which, in the nature of 
things, only a few of them can attain. The tendency of 
children to choose occupations which are impossible for all, 
save a small percentage finally to engage in, is shown by the 
following- studies. Zeidler, in his investigation in the 
schools of Santa Clara County California, found that 122 
boys out of 293 wanted to enter one of the five following 
occupations : machinist, mechanic, engineer, aviator and 
electrician, while only two of their fathers were so en- 
gaged.^ Gose study of over 1000 boys in Oakland, Cali- 
fornia, disclosed that 56.4% of them wanted to be one of 

* Richard Zeidler, " Occupations of Fathers and Occupational Gioices 
of Boys in Twenty-two Rural and Village Schools in Santa Clars 
County, California," Manual Training, May, 1916, pp. 674-80. 



2^^ INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [482 

the following : engineer, lawyer, mechanic, farmer, architect, 
electrician, doctor, book-keeper and chef, yet only 12.4% of 
the parents of these boys were employed at these occupa- 
tions/ Wood's study of 990 boys in St. Paul, Minn., 
lends further confirmation. 28% of the boys wanted to go 
into the professions, while only 5% of the parents were pro- 
fessional men. 14% of the boys wanted clerical jobs al- 
though only 6% of the parents were so employed.^ 

Conversely, those occupations where most of the fathers 
are employed, are those towards which the boys manifest 
the least interest. Zeidler's study showed that fifty-three 
fathers were either laborers, contractors, ministers, painters, 
or fruit packers, yet only three sons want to enter any of 
these occupations.* Sears' study showed that while 30% 
of the parents were engaged in the manufacturing trades, 
only 7% of the boys wished to enter them and that although 
32% of the fathers were in business, but 14% of the sons 
wanted to enter this field.* The St. Paul investigation 
showed that whereas the trades employed 33% of the 
fathers, only 14% of the boys had chosen it, and that 
while 10% of the fathers were unskilled laborers, only 1% 
of the boys wanted to go into this class of occupation.^ 

Interest therefore seems to be insufficient as a sole 
method of vocational guidance. The truth is probably 
that while no child should preferably go into an industry 
unless he is interested in it, it is also true that he should not 

*T. B. Sears, "Occupations of Fathers and Occupational Choices of 
1039 Boys in Grades Seven and Eight of the Oakland Schools," School 
and Society, vol. i, pp. 750-56. 

' Erville B. Woods, " The Social Waste of Unguided Personal 
Ability," American Journal of Sociology, vol. xix, p. 365 (Nov., 1913). 

' Zeidler, op. cit. 

* Sears, op. cit., pp. 750-56. 

* Woods, op. cit., p. 365. 



483] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 277 

enter it just because he is interested. Advocates of voca- 
tional guidance must furthermore face a truth that they have 
hitherto found it more pleasant to ignore: namely, that a 
large part of the world's work is so dispiriting and dull that, 
were interest depended on, these positions would never 
be filled. They are filled at present, not by choice, but by 
economic pressure. Vocational guidance in itself will be 
insuflficient to drain children off from these pursuits. 
Somehow they will still have to be recruited. 

B. Determination by Self Analysis. Few would advo- 
cate this as the sole method of vocational guidance, but it 
has its place as a part of the system. It is really an inven- 
tory of the individual's assets and liabilities. Parsons, in- 
deed, made self-analysis the basis of his method, and re- 
quired those who came to him for guidance to make a 
written analysis of themselves by following an outline that 
he had prepared. This outline was exceedingly elaborate, 
containing over four hundred questions.^ Obviously it 
would require a capacity for patient accurate introspection 
that few adults and practically no juveniles possess. Hol- 
lingworth has found that the individual tends to overesti- 
mate himself upon desirable traits and under-estimate his 
possession of undesirable ones.^ Furthermore, such ab- 
stract qualities as energy, honesty, truthfulness, industry, 
etc., that Parsons tried to evaluate, are prerequisites for all 
industries, nay for life itself ; they do not determine which 
of a nuniber of industries one should enter. 

C. Determination by the Impartial Judgment of Others. 
Men are hired by others, they are not employed merely 
because they want to work at a particular job. Employers 

* Frank Parsons, Choosing a Vocation, pp. 26-44. 

2 H. L. Hollingworth, Vocational Psychology, pp. 151-155. 



278 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [484 

have used the most diverse methods of selecting men. Most 
of them say that they use their " knowledge of human 
nature " to make proper choices. Few could tell what they 
mean by "human nature." It generally means that they 
employ those that make a good impression on them. 
Terman, in a San Diego examination, found that many 
candidates having^ a good personal appearance, were of a 
low degree of intelligence.^ A good or bad impression may 
l)e and often is caused by details that have no real connection 
with the applicants' power of filling the position satisfac- 
torily. A sallow skin, a retreating forehead, and close-set 
eyes, are traits that the vast majority of business men would 
stamp as undesirable, yet there is not one iota of proof 
to indicate that they are any index of a man's true worth. 
Phrenology has long since been exploded by scientists, 
but many so-called " practical " men still cling to it.^ Nor 
is the ability or inability to impress an employer by short 
conversations, general dress, and bearing, an index of ability. 
The methods of employment have all too frequently been, in 
the past, a mixture of guess-work and false science. 

One very distinct fault with this method of employment 
has been that judgment has been passed by one man only. 
Individual judgments are notoriously open to error. Group 
judgments are much more reliable.^ In the personal 
examination, undoubtedly a better selection of men would 
be obtained if several persons passed judgment on the men 
and rated them as regards certain concrete characteristics. 
From these individual judgments, a composite rating could 

^ L. H. Terman, "A Trial of Mental and Pedagogical Tests in a Civil 
Service Examination for Policemen and Firemen," Journal of Applied 
Psychology, vol. i, pp. 17-19 (March, 19 17). 

'E. g., the wide attention that is being paid by business men to Dr. 
Katherine Blackford's methods of analyzing character. 

*See Hollingworth, opi. cit., pp. 133-142. 



485] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 279 

be made which would tend to eliminate" many individual 
errors. Exactly such a system was worked out for the 
rating of officers during the war by the committee on 
classification and personnel of the War Department. 

D. Detennination by Means of Psychological and Trade 
Tests. Individual judgments are faulty and take the time of 
high-salaried officials. Group judgments are expensive. 
How much easier itapparently is to turn over the applicant to 
a psychological laboratory and ask for a quantitive measure- 
ment of his qualities ! The tests do not take long and there 
is a numerical precision about the results that is highly im- 
pressive. The question is: are these tests an index of 
ability? If so, how far? 

A variety of tests has been used. They may be divided 
into two main groups, (i) general intelligence tests, and 
(2) specific abilities tests. Typical of the first group are the 
revised Benet-Simon tests, the Terman, Thorndike, Wood- 
worth and Wells tests and the army general intelligence tests. ^ 
These intelligence tests have developed far beyond the 
crude forms of the original Benet-Simon test so that not 
only can the definitely feeble-minded be identified but all 
others can be classified into various groups. The general 
intelligence of a fairly large sample is shown to conform 
to the normal probability curve. A firm desirous of hir- 
ing high-^rade men will find its choice greatly assisted by 
the use of these tests. ^ Positions may also be classified into 
groups according to the amount of intelligence required of 
those who work at them. Then men with grade A intelli- 
gence, can be employed at grade A jobs, those of grade B 

* See Terman, The Measurement of General Intelligence ; Yoakum 
and Yerkes, Army Mental Tests. 

2 See W D. Scott, " The Selection of Employees by means of Quan- 
titative Determinations," Annals, American Academy Political and 
Social Science, May, 1916, pp. 182-193. 



28o INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [486 

at grade B positions and the men of the lowest intelHgence 
at the least skilled jobs. Care should be taken, however, 
that the classification be not made minute and not more 
than four or five groups should be separated at first. While 
this method is applicable among groups, it does not atford 
a basis for apportioning positions within any one of these 
groups. 

The question may then be asked : does experimental 
psychology afford a means for determining the specific 
capacity for specific occupations? Certain tests such as 
those for color-blindness, for such occupations as engineers, 
motormen and flagmen, can be given and the defectives 
weeded out. The discovery of specific aptitudes, however, 
is much more dif^cult. Applicants for switch-board work 
can be tested for auditory acuity, and, if below standard, 
refused employment, while Seashore has developed tests to 
test natural singing ability.^ 

Hollingworth classifies the methods of testing specific 
abilities as follows : ^ ( i ) By use of the vocational miniature. 
An example of this is testing " hello " girls on a toy switch- 
board. Hollingworth and Muensterberg both believed that 
this was not a fair test. What is essential to the test is not 
the similarity of external mechanism, but the internal 
similarity of the mental attitude. (2) By sampling. This is 
the taking of an actual part of the work that must be per- 
formed in a specific job and trying the candidate out on 
it. As Hollingworth points out, this is not essentially 
psych olog:ical. Furthermore, to make it a fair test, a large 
number of samples must be chosen. No judgment can be 

^ See G. M. Whipple, " The Use of Mental Tests in Vocational Guid- 
ance," Annals, American Academy, May, 1916, pp. 193-204. 

2 H. L. Hollingworth, "Specialized Vocational Tests and Methods." 
School and Society, vol. i, pp. 918-922 (June 26, 1915) : also chapter v 
of his Vocational Psychology. 



487] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 28 1 

given as the result of a trial upon one piece of work. ( 3 ) 
By analogy. This is the testing of the subject under certain 
situations that are supposed to be analogous to those which 
the worker will face in a given job. Under this head CL>me : 
(a) Muensterberg's famous test for sea-captains by the 
quickness and accuracy shown in rating cards, (b) his test 
for motormen by the use of a crank in connection with a 
strip of paper, and (c) the test for telephone girls by cancel- 
ing letters from a newspaper page. The great difficulty 
here is in getting: tests which are really analogous to the 
situation which confronts the worker in the specific in- 
dustry. Breese, of Cincinnati, applied Muensterberg's test 
for sea-captains and his result showed that according to the 
tests, women should make the best marine officers. It may 
be that it is so, but the more probable supposition is that 
the test was not a real measurement of all the qualities 
needed. (4) By miscellaneous empirical tests. This method 
consists in starting out with no one a priori test, but using 
a number of tests and then correlating them with the later 
progress of those tested in the industry itself. The tests 
which actually are an index of ability can thus be secured 
and those that are not, can be discarded. This method has 
been adopted by Mrs. Helen T. Woolley in her investiga- 
tions in Cincinnati. Through the cooperation of the Board 
of Education and the Schmidlapp Bureau, Mrs. Woolley 
and her staff of investigators are placed in charge of the 
issuance and reissuance of working permits. The children 
are given mental and physical tests on their going to work 
and their later industrial history is checked up. The results 
will determine what correlation exists between the various 
tests and industrial success or failure, etc. The work has 
probably not been in operation sufficiently long to permit 
complete correlation, but preliminary studies have been 



282 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [488 

made/ It is this last method, which has been followed by 
Lough in the testing of typists is beginning to be used in 
trade tests by such men as Dr. Link, and which seems to pro- 
mise most. Positive correlations will be worked out, it 
is to be hoped, which will establish the adequacy of some 
tests and the inadequacy of others. 

A word of caution is perhaps needed concerning the pre- 
sent development of psychological tests as a method of de- 
termining vocational bent. General intelligence can perhaps 
be roughly determined, but only slight headway has been 
made in the determination of specific aptitudes. Experi- 
mental psychology gives some promise that in the future it 
will be able to do this, but it has little concrete accomplish- 
ment. The claims of the vigorous advertisers of psycho- 
logical tests, both within and without college ranks, shotild 
be mcKSt carefully scanned, for their boasts are beyond their 
deeds. 

E. By Testing the Worker Out on Acttial Jobs. This 
theory is based on the belief that it is impossible to deter- 
mine in advance for what a child is best fitted. If psycholo- 
gical tests, and interest and character analyses are inade- 
quate, what can be done ? Plainly, try the child out in some 
position and see what success he has. If he fails at it, his 
failure should be studied and he should be guided into 
other positions in the light of the characteristics that he 
has displayed. If he succeeds, the characteristics that he 
shows may aid in determining whether he should be guided 
into a better job, or continued for a term in his original 
position. 

^ See Helen T. Woolley and Charlotte R. Fischer, Mental and Physical 
Measurements of Working Children, vol. xviii of Psychological Mono- 
graphs; Helen T. Woolley, "Charting Childhood in Cincinnati," The 
Survey, vol. xxx, pp. 601-606 (Aug. 9, 1913) also "The Issuing of 
Working Permits and its Bearing on other Educational Problems," 
School and Society, vol. i, pp. 726-733. 



489] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 283 

This is not the old hit-or-miss method of letting the 
child find out for himself for what he is best fitted. In 
this plan, the child is supervised and followed up and not 
left to shift for himself. 

F, Conclusion. While no one of these methods is suf- 
ficient in itself, none of them is inconsistent with any 
other. It is not a question of choosing between one of 
these methods and the rest. They are not substitutes for 
one another, but are complements. 

A boy may be psychologically adapted for a position, but 
if he is not interested in it he will prove to be an inefificient 
worker. He may be both interested and pass a high psycho- 
logical test, yet be dishonest and untruthful and, there- 
fore, incompetent. He may have a high moral record, be 
keenly interested in the position and pass the psychological 
censor, and still make a dismal failure on the actual job 
itself. Human capacities are too complex to be evaluated 
by a singfle scale of measurement. 

Probably a combination of nearly all of these methods 
should be used. A child's interest in the general field of 
occupations should be stimulated in a critical manner. He 
should be encouraged to analyze his own capacities and find 
out his strong and weak points. Psychological tests can 
separate people into rough groups as respects their general 
intelligence, and if positions be classified correspondingly 
the field of choice can be limited. It may well be that 
future developments will enable the psychologists to assign 
individuals to specific tasks, but their science does not per- 
mit them legitimately to claim the power to do so now. 
Finally, since man is essentially changing and his personality 
is not fixed, the record on the job should be carefully 
watched. If he improves, he should be promoted. If he 
does poorly, the causes of his failure should be noted and 



284 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [^p^ 

he should be assigned to work at which he can be more 
efficient. 

Ill Determining What Jobs are Fitted for Children 

It is not only necessary to examine children in order to 
determine what they are fitted for, but it is equally neces- 
sary to examine industry to determine whether children 
should be allowed to enter it. A' child should be as 
careful in choosing: an industry, as an employer is in choos- 
ing the child. An analysis of industry is therefore a 
necessary part in any democratic system of vocational guid- 
ance. 

A. Investigations already made. Many such investiga- 
tions have already been made in this country. Not only 
have the city surveys conducted by the National Society for 
the Promotion of Industrial Education accumulated a mass 
of material concerning specific trades but many surveys 
have been made of individual industries as well. A list of 
the more important of these studies is given below ' as well 

^iSee the Richmond Survey, Bulletin 162, U. S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics; The Minneapolis Survey, published both by the National 
Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education as Bulletin 2J and 
by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as Bulletin 199. The Richmond, 
Indiana, the Evansville and the Indianapolis Surveys are published as 
Bulletins 18, 19 and 21 respectively, of the Indiana State Board of Edu- 
cation. See also Survey of Printing Trades of Cincinnati, by the Cin- 
cinnati Chamber of Commerce; R. J. Leonard, Some Facts concerning 
the People, Industries, and Schools of Hammond, Indiana, 165 pp. 
(1915); Anne Davis, Occupations and Industries open to Children 
Between Fourteen and Sixteen Years of Age, pubHshed by the Chicago 
Board of Education, 1914; Arthur D. Dean, Education of Workers in 
the Shoe Industry ; Frederick J. Allen, The Shoe Industry as a Vocation. 
See also the following volumes on industrial conditions in Cleveland. 
Ohio, published by the Russell Sage Foundation, F. L. Shaw, The 
Building Trades; R. R. Lutz, The Metal Trades; Bertha M. Stevens, 
Boys and Girls in Commercial Work; R. R. Lutz, Wage Earning and 
Education. 



491 ] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 285 

as a list of the investigations made particularly for women. ^ 
These studies however are for the shelves of the research 
student or for the vcxrational adviser and not for the child- 
ren who are to be guided; the children need shorter and 
more popular pamphlets, similar to those issued by the 
Boston Vocational Bureau on a number of trades. 

B. Type of investigations needed. Unquestionably the 
great need is now for a series of short, accurate and terse 
descriptions of the various industries which will give the 
child a clear comprehension of the economic, hygienic, 
educational, and social prospects of each industry.^ 

The economic aspects should include: (i) The size of 
the industry, — number of plants and employees. (2) 
Whether it is localized or diffused. (3) Is it growing or de- 
creasing and at what rate? (4) Is it overcrowded or is 
there a scarcity of high-class workmen? (5) What are 
the hours of work? (6) What are the wages for the 
various kinds of work? (7) How computed? Time or 
piece work? (8) How much unemployment is there? — 
seasonal fluctuations, casual employment, etc.l 

^See Lorinda Perry, Millinery as a Trade for Women; Mary Van 
Kleeck, A Seasonal Industry— A Study of the Millinery Industry in 
New York City; Van Kleeck, Women in the Bookbinding Trade; Van 
Kleeck, Artiiidal Flower Makers; May Allinson, Dress Making as a 
Trade for Women in Massachusetts, Bulletin igs, U. S, Bureau of 
Labor Statistics; Fourth Annual Report of New York State Factory 
Investigating Commission, vol. iv„ containing studies by R. J. Leonard, 
An Investigation of the Paper Box Industry to Determine the Possibility 
of Vocational Training, pp. 1243- 1347, and by Anna C. Phillips, An 
Investigation of the Candy Industry, etc., pp. 1363-1406; I. P. O'Leary, 
Department Store Occupations; Edna Bryner, The Garment Trades; 
Edna Bryner, Dress Making and Millinery ; Alliance Employment Bureau. 
Inquiry into Trades for Factory Workers; Women's Educational and 
Industrial Union, The Public Schools and Women in Office-Service. 

* See as a model the admirable handbooks of the London Apprentice- 
ship and Skilled Employment Association, Trades for London Boys and 
How to Enter Them {1912); Trades for London Girls and How to 
Enter Them (1914). 



286 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [492 

The description of the hygienic and safety* conditions 
should include: (i) What is the death rate for that trade? 
The morbidity rate? How do these compare with other 
trades? (2) What particular dangers are there in the in- 
dustry ? ( 3 ) Accident rate ; what percentage are fatal ; what 
per cent serious ; what are slight ? If no accurate figures can 
be obtained, a general estimate of the dangers could be given. 
(4) Is the work out of doors or indoors? (5) Does the 
worker sit, stand, or move about ? (6) Degree of eye-strain ? 
(7) What rest-periods are allowed. How long is the noon 
hour, etc. (8) Conditions of ventilation and temperature; 
hot, cold, medium, variable or constant, degree of moisture, 
circulation. (9) Nervous strain and fatigue. This involves 
a statement of the speed required of the worker and how 
specialized and repetitious are the tasks. (10) Is the industry 
noisy? Disag:reeable odors? Is the industry stimulating 
or enervating:? 

The survey of the educational possibilities of the industry 
should cover: (i) How great is the division of labor? 
(2) Relative proportion of skilled, low-skilled, and unskilled 
labor? (3) Are new processes being invented? If so. 
what is their influence upon the division of labor and the 
amount of skilled labor required? (4) Are untrained be- 
ginners wanted in the trade ? ( 5 ) What is the average age 
of entrance to the trade? (6) What age is preferable? 
(7) Wages at entrance? Do they increase? If so, how 
much and how rapidly? (8) Is there opportunity to 
learn more than one branch of work? (9) Is there a pos- 
sibility of changing from one department to another? 
(10) What are the possibilities for promotion? (11) 
What kinds of skill are required in the different occupations 
within the industry? (i. e., how much general knowledge, 
industrial and economic intelligence, specialized technical 
knowledge, manipulative skill?). 



^93] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 287 

To answer these questions, some detailed job analysis 
is needed. The various surveys have accumulated a mass 
of information which can be adapted and supplemented 
to meet local conditions. The job analyses which the 
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics prepared for the 
Federal Employment Service for some twenty industries 
give information on many of these topics. 

The social questions which should be asked of an industry 
are every whit as important, though very often neglected. 
Especially important to consider are : ( i ) The moral dangers 
of the industry, exposure of messenger and news boys, 
waitresses, sales-girls, theatre ushers, etc. (2) Racial com- 
position of the trade ; what races chiefly predominate in the 
particular industry ? ( 3 ) What is the attitude of employers 
toward unionism; whether sympathetic, unconcerned, or 
antagonistic? (4) Degree of unionism existing; name of 
unions and headquarters, importance of the unions. (5) 
Policies of the unions. This should cover a brief state- 
ment of the policy towards extrance to a trade, whether it 
is '' closed " by means of apprenticeship rules or high 
initiation fee, or ''open" to all workers; policy of union 
as respects industrial or craft organization, collective bar- 
gaining, etc. 

Not only should the industry be investigated, but 
local vocational authorities should gather information 
about individual employers. The possibility of promotion, 
working conditions in the particular plant, whether welfare 
work exists and if so, whether it is a substitute for an 
increase in wages, etc., might well be studied and recorded. 
Particularly bad employers might indeed be placed upon a 
''black list," or good employers upon a "white list." 

Such a thorough investigation of industry would give the 
child a clear picture of the advantages and disadvantages of 
each trade. One of the great dangers of vocational giiid- 



288 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [494 

ance is that it may become inspirational rather than in- 
formational. An allied danger is the implanting in the 
child of individualistic ideas of success alone, and the 
neglect of the social agencies through which the child can 
f>etter his position. This is illustrated by a recent book on 
vocational gfuidance which emphasized the necessity of copy- 
ing Patrick Henry, Andrew Carnegie, Hugh Chalmers, 
Henry Clews, Albert J. Beveridge and John D. Rocke- 
feller, but did not once mention trade-unionism ! 

IV. Problems of Vocational Guidance 

/. What Agencies Should Administer Vocational Gidd- 
ance. It is of course quite clear that the school has a large 
part to play in any program of vocational guidance. The 
school should know the aptitudes and interests of the child 
better than any other agency and it can furnish him with 
information about the industries and help to form his choice. 

But only in the rarest of cases can the school find him a 
job, or follow him up at his work after he has once begun. 
Once he has left its doors, its contact with him ceases and 
the youth is left to get a job in the same fashion as an adult. 

In the main, he must depend either upon tramping the 
streets looking for a position or upon the services of private 
employment agencies. This is bad enough for a man, 
but it is still worse for a child. Such a method or rather 
lack of method not only results in a great waste of time and 
exorbitant fees, but also in no attempt being made to fit 
the youth into his proper niche. Whether he places him- 
self, or is placed by one of an innumerable number of 
private agencies, the number of positions from which he 
has to choose is necessarily limited. The private agencies, 
moreover, are more anxious to place him than to place him 
correctly, since what they are concerned with is the fee. 

Not only does this result in an almost complete lack of 



495] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 289 

proper placement, but it effectively prevents follow-up work. 
Neither the school nor any other agency can coordinate the 
large number of private employment agencies and thus keep 
in touch with the boy while he is at work, help him while 
there, and assist him to new positions. He is inevitably 
lost sight of, and there is no one permanent record of his 
industrial experience and no one body in continuous touch 
with him. 

It is plainly necessary that there should be some one 
central agency which should : ( i ) have the exclusive task of 
finding work for juveniles under a given age, preferably 
21 ; (2) be run for service, not for profit. Private philan- 
thropic ag:encies, such as the Alliance Employment Bureau 
in New York, are clearly inadequate. The only possible 
agency to meet these needs would be a system of public em- 
ployment ofBces, which would not be merely one of a number 
of juvenile placement agencies, but would have an absolute 
monopoly of the field. This bureau would not only place 
the child in his first position, but every time the child left 
one job and sougfht another, he would be compelled to clear 
through the bureau. This would keep the bureau con- 
stantly in touch with what the boy was doing and with his 
home address. The boy's record would show how he was 
progressing in industry and follow-up work could easily be 
administered. 

The removal of the profit motive would in itself abolish 
one cause of improper placing, but the public bureau should 
beware of following the same principles in placing juveniles 
as in finding employment for adults. While a public em- 
ployment office does not measure its success by the amount of 
fees received, it frequently does regard the number of posi- 
tions filled as the crucial test. This is perhaps a proper test for 
adults, but not for children. Children need not only to 
be placed, but to be placed correctly. If an employment 



290 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [496 

office is anxious to make placements, it is likely to send 
children to jobs at which they should never work. The 
National Labor Exchanges in Great Britain made this mis- 
take during the first years of their work. 

So different are the problems of juveniles, that every 
public employment office of sufficient size should have a 
separate juvenile division to care solely for minors. The 
British employment system has such a division and it has 
done very effective work/ as has the Indiana State Employ- 
ment Service in this country. The Federal Employment 
Service, in the latter part of 191 8, also created such a staff 
bureau and tried to get its local branches to create such f unc- 
tionalized divisions. 

Juvenile placement work of this sort should of course be 
thoroughly coordinated with both school and industry. The 
school can do the preparatory work of information and 
guidance and turn the child over to the employment office 
for placement. The employment office on the other hand, 
can study the industries and enlist their cooperation in re- 
ceiving the boys and giving them an opportunity for advan- 
cement. Both emplo3^ers and workmen should be enlisted 
in the support of the work and joint boards, similar to the 
community labor boards created during the war, would be 
of great benefit. 

2. When Should Vocational Guidance Begin. We have 
seen that the schools should always do preparatory work 
in vocational guidance before turning the child over to the 
employment office. But when should they begin this prepa- 
ration? Vocational guidance is today almost entirely 
confined to the high school and rarely exists in the lower 
grades save in the form of some casual instruction. This 

1 See Arthur Greenwood, Juvenile Labor Exchanges and After-Care-, 
Bruno Lasker, The British System of Labor Exchanges, pp. 39-44 ; U. S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin No. 206. 



497] VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 29I 

means that the vast majority of children do not receive 
this guidance, and in order that they may, it must be in- 
troduced into the elementary schools. This has been done 
in certain Cincinnati schools/ 

5. How Mtich Assistance is Vocational Guidance for 
Children under 16? The fact that the vast majority of 
children under 16 go into routine jobs which require little 
or no intelligence has already been fully shown. Employ- 
ers will not hire boys and girls of this age for responsible 
positions. What can vocational guidance do for this class 
of children ? It cannot recommend those occupations which 
children now enter, nor can it secure better positions for 
them because they are not wanted. Its hands are tied. 
Modern industry makes it impossible for most children of 
this age to develop at work; they can only degenerate. 
There is little choice between good and bad jobs; the child 
can as a rule choose only between a number of evils. Keen 
students of vocational guidance have observed this : Mrs. 
Helen T. Wooley after her investigation in Cincinnati, de- 
clared : ''There is no work open to them (14-16-year-old 
children) worth advising them to take."^ Dr. E. L. Tal- 
bert concluded as a result of his Chicago study that : *' Little 
service can be rendered by the vocational adviser if children 
leave school before the age of sixteen years." ^ Mrs. Alice 
Barrows Fernandez made a thorough investigation in New 
York City and expressed her conclusions in even stronger 
language : '' The only thing which vocational guidance could 

^ A. F. Goodwin, " Vocational Guidance in Cincinnati," in Bloomiield's 
Readings in Vocational Guidance. 

' Helen T. Wooley, " Charting Childhood in Cincinnati," The Survey, 
vol. XXX, p. 605 (August 9, 1913). 

• E. L. Talbert, " Opportunities in School and Industry for Children 
of the Stockyard District," in Bloomfield's Readings in Vocational 
Guidance, p. 432. 



292 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [498 



contribute to the problem was that there was no possibiUty 
for vocational guidance." ^ 

Vocational guidance by itself is, therefore, almost power- 
less to better the immediate condition of the child. If they 
could stay out of industry until they were 16, however, it 
would give them not only more knowledge but a more 
mature physique and mind. 

* Bull. No. 9, Publications of the Educational Association of the City 
of New York, p. 9. 



CHAPTER XIII 
The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 

Providing Federal Aid to Vocational Education ^ 

In 1 91 7, the Smith-Hughes Act, providing federal aid 
to the states for vocational education, passed Congress and 
became a law. The passage of this act was the fruition of 
a long legislative campaign to secure federal aid for this 
purpose. Somewhat similar bills had been introduced in 
several preceding Congresses, and in 19 12 the Page bill had 
passed the Senate but had been defeated in the House. In 
1914, upon the recommendation of Congress, a commission 
on National Aid to Vocational Education was appointed 
by the President. This commission reported favorably and 
submitted a bill to Congress which was introduced in the 
Senate by the same state. This bill was vigorously sup- 
ported by the American Federation of Labor, the National 
Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, and by 
large industrial interests. It was passed by the Senate in 
191 6 and, with slight modification, by the House in 
February 191 7, and went into effect on July ist of that 
year.^ 

The act provides that every dollar allotted by the Federal 

1 This chapter has appeared in the Political Science Quarterly for 
December, 1920. 

2 Public, No. 347, 64th Congress. For an analysis and interpretation 
of the law, see "What is the Smith-Hughes Bill?" Bulletin 28, of the 
National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education and 
Bulletin 2 of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. 

499] 293 



294 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



[500 



Government shall be met with an additional dollar appro- 
priated by the state or locality. The money allowed by the 
national g:overnment and duplicated by the states must be 
spent only for the salaries of teachers of trade and home 
economics subjects and of teachers and directors of agricul- 
tural subjects, and in preparing teachers for these subjects. 
The state or local community must provide, maintain and 
equip the buildingfs where the subjects are taught, while the 
federal government will permit a small portion of the funds 
for teacher training to be used in selecting and placing the 
vocational teachers. 

The amount appropriated for the varying purposes by 
years is ^iven below : 





Federal Aid for Vocational Education 












Teacher 




Fiscal year 




Agriculture: 
For salaries 


Trade^ home 
economics 


training: For 

salaries of 


For 

Federal 


ending 
June 30th 


; Total 


of teachers, 

supervisors 

aud directors 


and industry: 

For salaries 

of teachers 


teachers and 

maintenance 

of teacher 

training 


Board for 
Vocational 
Education 


1917-18 . . 


$1,860,000 


$548,000 


$566,000 


$546,000 


$200,000 


1918-19 . . 


2,512,000 


784,000 


796,000 


732,000 


200,000 


1919-20 . . 


3,182,300 


1,024,000 


1,034,000 


924,000 


200,000 


1920-21 . . 


3,836,000 


1,268,000 


1,278,000 


1,090,000 


200,000 


1921-22 . . 


4,329,000 


1,514,000 


1,525,000 


1,090,000 


200,000 


1922-23 . . 


4,823,000 


1,761,000 


1,772,000 


1 ,090,000 


200,000 


1923-24 . . 


5,318,000 


2,009,000 


2,019,000 


1,090,000 


200,000 


1924-25 . 


6,380,000 


2,534,000 


2,556,000 


1 ,090,000 


200,000 


1925-26 . . 
Annually 
thereafter. 


7,367,000 
7,367,000 


3,027,000 
3,027,000 


3,050,000 
3,050,000 


1,090,000 
1 ,090,000 


200,000 
200,000 



It will be noted that the appropriations increase annually 
from 191 7-18 when only $1,860,000 was available to 1925- 
26 when nearly $7,500,000 will be available. The amount 
appropriated for the administrative expenses of the Federal 
Board remains constant at $200,000 throughout the period. 



^Ol] THE SMITH-HUGHES ACT OF 1917 295 

While teacher training reaches its maximum of $1,090,000 
in 1920-21 and does not increase thereafter, the other two 
branches of work increase annually until 1925-26 when they 
each will have approximately $3,000,000 from the Federal 
Government. Since every federal dollar must be met with 
at least an additional dollar, as much as $14,000,000 may 
be available for vocational education in 1925-26, as a direct 
result of this legislation. 

The types of schools which can receive aid from the 
Federal Government should be carefully noted. As has been 
said, they must be publicly controlled, and supervised, and 
designed to meet the needs of children over 14, in order to 
fit them for useful employment, but they must be of less 
than college grade. Within these general requirements the 
schools were required to conform to the following regula- 
tions together with such others as the Federal Board might 
set up. 

1. Schools for Aqricultural Subjects. Proper methods of 
teaching agriculture have not yet been agreed upon by 
educators and the act was purposely somewhat vague in lay- 
ing down standards in this field, providing merely that su- 
pervised practice in agriculture, on a farm provided by the 
school or some other farm, should be given for at least six 
months per year and that the teachers and directors should 
have the minimum qualifications determined by the state and 
approved by the Federal Board. 

2. Schools for Trade, Home Economics and Industrial 
Subjects, (a) At least one-third of the money appropriated 
to any state should be devoted to part-time (continuation) 
schools or classes for workers between 14 and 18 years of 
age. These continuation schools should provide for not 
less than one hundred and forty- four hours of class-room 
instruction per year and could teach such subjects as would 



296 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [502 

" enlarge the civic and vocational intelligence '' of the 
worker, (b) That schools of classes instructing persons 
not yet entered upon employment should devote not less 
than half of their instruction to practical work " on a 
useful or productive basis." The total time spent for in- 
struction was not to be less than thirty hours a week for a 
minimum of nine months of the year. This type of trade 
school was really designed as a unit trade school where the 
child would be taught one particular trade, (c) In cities and 
towns of less than 25,000, the unit trade-school plan for 
those not yet entered upon employment could be modified 
with the approval of the Federal Board to meet the needs of 
the particular locality. This was designed so that the 
basic principles of a number of trades could be taught in 
the smaller cities instead of those of one only, as is the 
case in cities of over 25,000. (d) Evening industrial 
schools should not admit anyone under 16 years of age, and 
should confine their instruction to that which is " supple- 
mental to the daily employment." (e) All teachers in these 
schools or classes should have the minimum qualifications 
for teachers of such subjects as determined upon by the 
state and approved by the Federal Board. 

J. Schools for Teacher Training. Since teacher-train- 
ing for vocational subjects was an almost wholly unexplored 
field, the act granted to the Federal Board the power of lay- 
ing down general standards, but specified: (a) That the 
teacher training should be given only to those who had 
had adequate vocational experience in the line of work they 
were preparing to teach. The general principle that com- 
petent workmen should be trained to teach their trade know- 
ledge rather than that teachers be given trade experience was 
thereby established. This was undoubtedly a wise act, and 
it should insure a more solid content to the vocational work 



^03] THE SMITH-HUGHES ACT OF 1917 297 

than could ever have been obtained by the other metho<l. 
(b) To prevent the undue sHghting of any subject, it was 
specified that not less than 20% nor more than 60% of the 
quota of any state for training teachers should be spent for 
agriculture, for the trades and industries, and for home 
economics. 

The funds apportioned among the states by Congress 
were not left to be distributed according to their whims or 
the demand for '' pork," but upon the basis of population, as 
evidenced by the last preceding census, according tO' the fol- 
lowing system : Each state was granted a minimum appro- 
priation of $^000 annually for the salaries of teachers and 
directors of ag:ricultural subjects, the same amount for the 
salaries of teachers of home economics, trade and industrial 
subjects, and the same for the maintenance of teacher-train- 
ing for these subjects, or $15,000 in all. The amount ap- 
propriated each year for teachers and directors of agricul- 
tural subjects was to be divided among the states in the 
proportion which their rural population ^ formed of the 
total rural population of the Continental United States. 
The amount appropriated for the salaries of teachers of 
home economics, trade and industrial subjects was to be 
divided among: the states in the proportion which their 
urban population' formed of the total urban population 
of the Continental United States. The sums appropriated 
for the maintenance of teacher training for these subjects 
was distributed on the basis of the proportion which the 
total population of each state formed of the total population 
of the Continental United States. 

There was a very real opposition on the part of the advo- 
cates of the bill to placing the administration of the act 

* Localities under 2500. 
'Localities over 2500 people. 



298 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [504 

under the Bureau of Education or where control could be 
exercised by the " school men." The Smith-Hughes Bill 
consequently originally provided for an interdepartmental 
board of five cabinet officers/ as the agency to administer 
the act. This was wisely amended so that three independ- 
dent members who were to be appointed directly by the 
President would serve with the four ex-officio members.^ 
The cabinet members have been so busy with the affairs of 
their own departments that the actual conduct of affairs has 
largely fallen upon the three appointees to the board. 

The Federal Board was given wide powers and was the 
agency created to evolve national standards and minimums 
of vocational education. It was given the authority to 
withhold allotments to any state when it believed that the 
federal moneys, or their state equivalent were not being 
expended for the purposes of, or under the conditions laid 
down by the act. A state board had the right of appeal 
from the decision of the Federal Board to Congress, but 
unless specifically upheld, the sums in question were to re- 
vert to the Treasury. 

In addition to its administrative powers, the Board was 
authorized to conduct investigations and make researches 
into the various phases of vocational education and its ad- 
ministration, and to publish its findings. Since it was pro- 
vided with liberal funds for its purposes, it was made the 
center for research in the field as well as for the formula- 
tion of policies. 

In order that a state might receive the benefits of the 
act, the legislature was compelled to create a state board 
of not less than three members, to administer the act within 

^ This was to consist of the Postmaster-General and the Secretaries 
of the Interior, AgricuUure, Commerce and Labor. 

* Secretaries of Commerct, Agriculture and Labor, and the Commis- 
sioner of Education. 



505] ^^^ SMITH-HUGHES ACT OF 1917 299 

the state and to cooperate with the Federal Board. This board 
could be either the state board of education or a separate 
body. Since many legislatures were not meeting in 191 7 
or had closed their sessions before the act was passed or at 
least was generally known, the governors of these states 
were authorized to accept the act temporarily and to create 
a board to administer it, pending action by the state legisla- 
ture in the first sixty days of its next session. 

Any state could defer accepting any of the three funds 
provided, but after June 30, 1920, in order for a state to 
accept federal funds for teachers' salaries in agriculture and 
trades, industries and home economics, respectively, it 
was compelled to take advantage of (and match equally) 
the minimum sums appropriated for teacher training in 
these two branches of subjects. 

Although the act was passed in February, 191 7, the pres- 
sure of war conditions was so great that the President did 
not appoint the three members of the board till July I7th.^ 
Charles A. Prosser," was appointed Director (or executive 
officer) of the Board in August. A series of meetings with 
representatives of the states was held in the same month, at 
which the act was explained and general policies formul- 
ated. I 

The tasks of the Board were increased by the war-time 
responsibilities that they assumed. Emergency training for 
conscripted men, conducted chiefly in the evening, was pro- 
moted by it and approximately 19,000 men were given some 
training in radio classes, and 16,000 in mechanical trades. 
In addition to this, the Smith-Sears Act, passed in April, 

^They were Arthur E. Holden. to represent Labor; Charles E. Great- 
house, to represent Agriculture; and James P. Munroe, to represent 
Manufacturing and Commerce. C E. Mackintosh has since replaced 
Mr. Greathouse. 

' Since resigned. 



300 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



[506 



1 91 8, placed the Federal Board in charge of the vocational 
education of the disabled soldiers and sailors, and appro- 
priated $2,000,000 to be used by the Board for this purpose. 
$14,000,000 more was appropriated for this purpose by 
Congress in the summer of 19 19 and large appropriations 
an 1920. The board has therefore concentrated its atten- 
tion on problems for which it was not originally created/ 
By June 30, 191 9, the act had been accepted by legisla- 
tures of all the states save that Rhode Island did not accept 
the federal aid for agriculture. Due to the newness of the 
act, practically one-half of the allotments were not utilized 
by the states during the first year (June 30, 191 7- June 30, 
1 91 8) and one-third were not utilized in the second year 
as is shown by the following table : ^ 

Amounts of Federal Aid Grant Expended and Unexpended by the 
States, for the Fiscal Years, 1917-18, 1918-19 





79/7-/5 


igj8-ig 


Purpose 


Amount 
sent to 

States 


Amount 
expended 
by States 


Amount 

unex- 
pended by 
States 


Amount 

sent to 

States 

$783,000 

794,000 
730,000 

$2,307,000 
100. 


Amount 
expended 
by States 


Amount 
unex- 
pended by 
States 


Agriculture. . . 

Trade, Industry 
and Home 
Economics. . 

Teacher Training 


$547,027 

364,444 
544,144 


$273,587 

365,469 
196,727 


$273,440 

198,975 
347,417 


$526,000 

610,000 
426,000 


$257,000 

184,000 
304,000 


Total 

Per cent. . . . 


$1,655,615 
1 00.0 


$835,783 
50.5 


$819,832 
49-5 


$1,561,000 
67.7 


$745,000 
32-3 



^The administration of this work has been upon a national and not 
upon a federal basis. 

'Compiled from data given in the Second Annual Report of the 
Federal Board for Vocational Education, pp. 110-112; and Third Annual 
Report, p. 210. 



507] THE SMITH-HUGHES ACT OF 1917 ^qi 

The unexpended balances are to be deducted from the 
next year's allotments to the respective states. 

It was feared in many quarters that the opportunity given 
the states to set up separate boards from the state boards of 
education would cause the so-called '' dual system " of 
control to be fastened upon the country. This system 
had been advocated in 191 4 and at later sessions of the 
Illinois legislature by Mr. E. J. Cooley and by the Chicago 
Commercial Club, and had been opposed by labor unions 
and civic bodies who feared that the vocational school 
would thus be taken out of the hands of the educators and 
placed in the control of the manufacturers. 

In 31 states the state boards of education were made the 
boards for vocational education and unit control was thereby 
continued. For eig:ht of the remaining states there had pre- 
viously been no state board of education that could have 
assumed the duties, while one (Wisconsin) already had a 
separate board of vocational education. Omitting Wiscon- 
sin and Colorado, (where the state board of agriculture was 
designated to act for the state) , an analysis of the remaining 
fifteen states indicates that control is still exercised by the 
educators and has not been ceded to the employing interests. 
In six of these boards all the members are educators ; ^ two 
of them are composed exclusively of educators and state 
officials ; ^ on two more the educators are overwhelmingly 
in the majority;^ while on all of the remaining five* they 
are represented, and the farming and labor interests are 
also represented, so that control cannot be exercised by the 
employers. 

^ Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North CaroUna and 
South Dakota. 

' Illinois and Nebraska. 

* Ohio and Oklahoma. 

* Georgia, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire and Oregon. 



302 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [508 

While it is possible that later appointments may change 
the complexion of some of these boards, for the present at 
least, there need be no fear that the large industrial interests 
will dictate the policy of industrial education that is to be 
pursued. 

At the time of the passage of the act, seven states ^ had 
systems of state aid to localities for vocational education. 
In five of these states ^ the addition of federal aid was met 
by merely . continuing the previous sjtate appropriations, 
while in two,^ additional sums were appropriated. In cer- 
tain of these states the state contributes an equal share to 
that of the federal government and requires the locality to 
contribute at least an equal amount. Here each of the 
three agencies bear one-third of the expense, and the federal 
aid is doubled by the state and by the localities. In other 
states, the share of the locality is merged with that of the 
state in meeting the federal appropriation. 

A different sort of a problem faced the legislatures of the 
remaining forty-one states, which had previously had no 
system of state aid to localities for vocational education. 
Should the state itself appropriate the money to match the 
federal g:rant; should it throw the burden upon the locali- 
ties, or should the two bear it jointly? Twenty-five states* 
or over half the remaining number, made appropriations 
equal to or greater than the federal allotments. Localities 

* Connecticut, Indiana. Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Penn- 
sylvania and Wisconsin. Virginia had a law providing for such a 
system but no funds for this purpose had been provided by the 
legislature. 

' Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 
'Connecticut and New Jersey. 

* Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, 
Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana. Nebraska, 
Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, 
South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Virginia 



509] THE SMITH-HUGHES ACT OF 1917 303 

of course could make additional appropriations and in many 
cases were expected to do so. In the sixteen remaining 
states/ appropriations were made by the legislatures which 
were not equal to the federal allotments and the localities 
were expected to make up the remainder. In Mississippi, 
Oklahoma and Texas particularly the intention seems strong 
to have the localities (if they will), rather than the states, 
assume the brunt of duplicating the federal allotments.^ 

It will be seen from the foregoing analysis that the 
federal appropriations have not resulted in replacing funds 
previously appropriated by states or localities for vocational 
education. To illustrate : ( i ) Let us suppose that the 
localities of a state have been spending $50,000 annually for 
vocational work. The state's allotment from the federal 
fund is $25,000. In the first year, the state or its localities 
cannot reduce their expenditures and have the difference 
made up by the federal funds. The $25,000 of federal 
money must be added to the $50,000 of the state or kx^lity. 

(2) Indeed what has generally happened in the states 
which have appropriated funds equal to the federal grants, 
has been as follows: Whereas the localities of a state may 
have been spending $20,000 a year for proper vocational 
education projects and the state nothing, the federal grant 
of $25,000 is met by a state appropriation of an ecjual 
amount and $50,000 is thus added to the amount hitherto 
expended. Even where the state has not duplicated the 
federal funds, they have generally made a net addition to the 
general cause. Localities, moreover, have in many cases in- 
creased their previous appropriation. 

^Arkansas (until 1921), Georgia, Kentucky, Iowa, Louisiana, Mary- 
land, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, 
South Dakota, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming. 

' Thus in Oklahoma, the state appropriation amounted to about S% oi 
the federal allotment and in Mississippi, to about 10%. 



^04 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [510 

The federal grants mean consequently not only a net ad- 
dition to the funds for vocational education but in the 
majority of cases have called forth at least an equal addi- 
tional appropriation from the states or localities. Several 
states have indeed already appropriated far more than is 
legally required and doubtless many others will follow their 
example in the future. 

The Board has been slowly working out standards of 
vocational education upon which to base its policy in grant- 
ing or refusing aid. Training in agriculture and home 
economics subjects is still in such chaotic condition that the 
Board has not found it possible to lay down standards 
for the fields other than indicating that the supervised 
home project should be used as much as possible in agricul- 
tural work. 

Perhaps the most important issue in vocational educa- 
tion is as to whether the training given shall be con- 
fined solely to the trade at which the student works or 
whether it shall also prepare him for other trades, if he 
needs such preparation, and educate his general faculties as 
well. As has been mentioned previously, night-schools re- 
ceiving federal aid must confine themselves to those things 
connected with the occupation the student follows. Con- 
tinuation schools may be (a) supplementary to the young 
workers' trade, (b) a preparation for other industries or 
(c) a medium of giving general civic training. All of these 
subjects ma}^ indeed be given as courses in the same school 
and be taken by the boys and girls. 

It is, however, probably not unfair to the Federal Board of 
Vocational Education to state that its influence is more on 
the side of the narrow supplementary training than upon the 
broader aspects. Any such conception of industrial educa- 
tion fails of course to take account of the fact that it is 
manifestly improper to train boys and girls only for the 



51 1 ] THE SMITH-HUGHES ACT OF 1917 305 

occupations at which they are engaged, when most of these 
occupations are ones that should never be filled by the child- 
ren. 

The work of the various types of schools must conform 
to a certain standard of efficiency before the Federal Board 
will grant aid. To determine this, the Board relies upon the 
reports made by the state boards and inspection by its own 
agents who operate from the headquarters of the five dis- 
tricts into w^hich the country is divided for the purpose of 
administration.^ During the second fiscal year which ended 
June 30, 1 91 9, 1 93 1 schools applied for Federal Aid and of 
these, 1789, or 92.6%, were approved and 142, or 7.4%, 
were rejected.^ 

In the year ending June 30, 1919, approximately 195,000 
pupils were enrolled in the vocational courses; 121,000 of 
whom were males and 74,000 females. Some 18,000 of 
these were enrolled in agricultural subjects; 19,000 in all 
day trades or industrial schools; 73,000 in continuation 
schools^ (51,000 of these being in general continuation 
schools and 22,000 in trade or industrial continuation 
schools) ; 44,000 in the evening industrial schools, and 
41,000 in home economics schools.* In addition to this, 
7400 students had received teacher training during the 
year. As has been pointed out in Chapter XI, as a result 
of the act seventeen states have now passed compulsory con- 
tinuation school laws. The use of the federal aid system is 

*New York City, Atlanta, Ga., Indianapolis, Ind., Kansas City, Mo., 
San Francisco, Cal. 

' Third Annual Report of the Federal Board for Vocational Edu- 
cation, 1919, p. 229. 

'40,000 of these were in the continuation schools of Pennsylvania, 
and 9,000 in those of Massachusetts. 

* Compiled from data given in the Third Annual Report of the Federal 
Board for Vocational Education, 1919, p. 220. 



3o6 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [c,i2 

a particularly happy administrative device since it : ^ ( i ) 
assists the poorer states, (2) ensures a certain national 
minimum standard, (3) ensures relatively economical ex- 
penditure of federal funds, since the localities are com- 
pelled to contribute at least an equal amount. (4) grants in- 
itiative and autonomy to the states, (5) solves constitutional 
objections to federal action, since a state only accepts the 
system of its ov^n free will, (6) centralizes research, and (7) 
integrates the educational system within the states. 

^ For a description and analysis of the newly created system of federal 
aid see my articles, " The Development of a System of Federal Grants 
in Aid," Political Science Quarterly, vol. xxxv. pp. 255-272; 522-545 
(June and December, 1920). 



CHAPTER XIV 
Economic Effects of Industrial Education 

/. Some Clahns as to the Wage Value of Industrial 
Education. Many ardent advocates of industrial educa- 
tion have unfortunately approached this question with the 
zeal of the propagandist rather than with the clearness and 
patience of the scientist. The Commission on National Aid 
to Vocational Education for instance estimated that by 
vocational education the average earning power would be 
increased approximately 25 cents per day " which would 
make a total increase in wages of $6,250,000 per day and 
$1,875,000,000 per year." ' This estimate was based upon 
a study of the records of 839 graduates of the Baron de 
Hirsch Trade School of N. Y. City, together with a study 
of 12 graduates of the Beverly, Mass., Cooperative Schcx>l.^ 

Mr. James M. Dodge in 1903 tried to prove that indus- 
trial education resulted in greatly increased earning power. 
He cited statistics to prove that while the average unskilled 
worker reached his maximum weekly wage of $10.20 at ap- 
proximately twenty-one, the shop-trained worker reached a 
maximum of $15.80 at twenty-four, while the average 
trade-school g-raduate at the age of thirty-two was receiving 
$25. a week and his earning curve was still rising." Tliese 

^Report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, 
63rd Congress, 2nd Session, House Doc. 1004, vol. i, p. 21. 

' Ihid., vol. i, pp. 94-97. 

•J. M. Dodge, Transactions of American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers, vol. xxv, pp. 40-48, see also, Fourth Report N. Y. Factory 
Investigating Commission, vol. iii, pp. 1418-1422. 

513] 307 



3o8 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [514 

statistics were used by many others besides Mr. Dodge to 
prove the g:reat economic advantages of industrial education. 
They were, however, based upon a study of the employ- 
ment records of only two corporations. We do not know 
whether those plants were typical of industry as a whole or 
how many cases they included. Miss Marshall/ Dr. Kings- 
bury,^ and Professor Ellis ^ have likewise claimed that greatly 
enhanced eaming-s were the consequence of industrial educa- 
tion. Mr. Wesley A. O'Leary has made perhaps the most 
scientific effort to determine the economic effects of indus- 
trial education. He compared the wages of 201 workmen 
before and after they studied in trade schools, and tried to 
discover whether their wages increased at a faster rate after 
their school training: than before.* He found that the dif- 
ference was exceedingly slight. 

The wag^e increases cited by the Federal Commission, by 
Mr. Dodge, and by others deserve close scrutiny before they 
are accepted as establishing the high monetary value of 
vocational education. In the first place they cover too few 
cases to be accepted as indicating general tendencies. 
Secondly, the increase in the wages of trade-school graduates 
may be explained by their inherent ability and energy, as 
well as by their training. Only a selected group will be 
willing to go to the trouble of acquiring such an education. 
Would not these have received wage increases even had they 
not studied at the trade school ? Finally, the supporters of 

^ Florence M. Marshall, " The Public School and the Girl Wag:e 
Earner," Charities and the Commons, vol. xix, p. 849, Oct. 5, 1907. 

'Susan M. Kingsbury, "What is Ahead for the Untrained Child in 
Industry," Charities and the Commons, vol. xix, p. 813 (Oct. 5, 1907). 

' A. Caswell Ellis. " The Money Value of Education," Bull. Bureau 
of Education, 191 7, no. 22, pp. 20-41. 

* Wesley A. O'Leary, " The Wage Value of Vocational Training," 
Fourth Annual Report N. Y. Factory Investigating Commission, pp. 
1411-1460, esp. pp. 1440-1450. 



^I^] ECONOMIC EFFECTS 309 

industrial education are guilty of bad logic, when they de- 
clare that, because the wages of those who have received 
industrial training have increased, therefore, under a 
universal system of industrial education, the wages of all 
would increase equally. As Professor Taussig cogently 
remarks, " Computations are sometimes made of the pro- 
fitableness of trade training. It is figured out that the 
return in enhanced wages, compared with the expense of 
education, amounts to a magnificent profit on the invest- 
ment. But it is forgotten that if a multitude get the 
training, the wages will be much less enhanced, conceivably 
not enhanced at all." ^ 

2. Methods by which Wages can he Increased. In 
general there are at least four ways of raising wages : 
(a) By increasing the efficiency of any given wage group 
as a whole. This raises the productivity of the so-called 
" margfinal " man within the group and consequently the 
general level of the group's wages, (b) By increasing the 
efficiency of individual workers. They are thus made abler 
than their fellows and consequently will receive higher 
wages for their difference in skill, (c) By decreasing the 
barriers between non-competing groups and establishing 
more nearly equal economic opportunity. In part this merely 
levels wages between groups, lowering those at present bom 
into the higher groups and raising those in the lower. 
Whether any gfeneral movement in this direction would in- 
crease the total amount paid in wages is uncertain. But 
one indubitable effect would be the better apportionment of 
men to tasks according to their abilities. Many incom- 
petents in the upper grades who are now employed only 
because of their monopolistic position would be replaced by 
men from the lower grades of labor. The resulting gain 

* F. W. Taussig, Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. xxx, p. 437. 



310 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [516 

in efficiency would be marked, (d) By strengthening the 
bargaining power of labor. Where laborers are unorgan- 
ized they are to a certain extent in the hands of the em- 
ployer.^ Their organization in labor unions and the insti- 
tution of collective bargaining places them on more even 
terms. 

J. Effect of Specific Methods of Industrial Education 
upon Wages. Turning now to the specific effects of in- 
dustrial education, perhaps the first point to be realized is 
that the various systems of industrial education will have dif- 
ferent effects. The question is, therefore, not, what will 
he the economic consequences of industrial education in 
general?, but rather, what will be the consequences of 
vocational guidance, of the trade school, of the corporation 
school, and of the continuation school? 

(i) Vocational guidance alone will not produce far- 
reaching economic readjustments. It will undoubtedly make 
for a somewhat better adjustment to positions and, through 
a study of the opportunities of the several industries, will 
abolish friction within a non-competing group. By itself. 
however, it will not abolish or greatly lessen non-competing 
groups themselves or mitigate the friction between groups. 
As long as children are forced to leave school at 14 because 
of economic necessity, they will be forced inevitably into the 
ranks of the unskilled and, unless other means are provided, 
they will remain there. They will rear large families who 
in turn will be compelled to leave school at an early age, 
and who will be condemned to the same class of labor at 

' There is of course a vast literature concerning the weaker bargaining 
power of labor. I venture to suggest a few works that are especially 
valuable on this topic: Seager, Principles of Economics, pp. 537-538; 
Commons and Andrews, Principles of Labor Legislation, p. 116; Sidney 
and Beatrice Webb, Industrial Democracy, esp. "The Higgling of the 
Market," pp. 654-702. 



5 1 7] ECONOMIC EFFECTS 3 1 1 

which their parents were employed. The upper grades of 
labor, on the other hand, will be recruited in the main from 
those classes who can afford to keep their children in school. 
Because of their monopolistic position, therefore, the latter 
will be able to get a greater return for the same amount 
of effort expended. 

Nor will the efficiency of labor, either individually or as 
a group, be appreciably increased. Vocational guidance is 
not vocational training. The worker will be guided to a 
job for which he is perhaps better adapted than for most 
other positions, but his ability to perform his work will not 
be enhanced by vocational guidance itself. 

(2) The effect of the all-day trade school would be to 
increase the efficiency and, all other things being equal, the 
wages of the aristocracy of manual labor. The productivity 
of the skilled workmen would be raised appreciably. Since 
attendance at such a school must be limited to a group some- 
what strongly entrenched economically, it could not benefit 
the members of the lower economic groups. As has been 
pointed out, it would not enable the unskilled or semi-skilled 
laborer to better his position. Hence it would still per- 
petuate the existence of the non-competing groups and 
would indeed increase the difficulty of passage from one to 
another. 

(3) The corporation school for apprentices would have 
effects similar to the trade school save that there might be a 
tendency to lessen the sharpness of the distinction between 
the various industrial groups. Promising boys of unskilled 
and low-paid fathers might be trained for higher positions 
than would be the case were they compelled to receive their 
training at an all-day trade school. The training given the 
workmen at the unskilled or semi-skilled positions would, so 
far as it went, increase productivity and hence presumably 
wages. Were corporation schools to become the quite 



312 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [518 

universal method of training, however, their effect might 
well be to decrease the strength of the labor unions and in 
consequence ultimately to lower wages. For if education is 
controlled by the employers, organization on the part of the 
workmen becomes increasingly difficult. 

(4) The economic effects of the continuation school would 
be much more thoroughgoing. Not only would the general 
efficiency of all classes be increased and their wages conse- 
quently raised, but the men in the lower grades of labor would 
be given an opportunity to rise to the higher. By making it 
possible for boys and girls to study while working, large 
numbers of those at present in the lowest grades of labor 
would be enabled to enter both the semi-skilled and skilled 
groups. Non-competing groups amongst manual workers 
would largely cease to exist, and there would be an assort- 
ment of labor according to inherent abilities rather than 
according to monopolistic advantages. 

The probable effects of the continuation school may 
therefore be summarized under four heads: (a) A general 
increase in productivity resulting in a consequent rise in the 
wages, (b) A further increase in wages for those who were 
lifted from the unskilled to the skilled and semi-skilled 
groups, (c) A decrease in the wages for those in the upper 
groups who had hitherto enjoyed the advantages of limited 
numbers, (d) A further increase in the wages of those still 
occupying the unskilled positions. Since their numbers 
would be lessened by the drafting off of a part of their 
former members, the marginal man would be more pro- 
ductive than he had been under the old conditions of the 
labor supply. The wages in this group would consequently 
rise above their former level. 

These effects would be complete were the continuation 
school trainino^ superimposed upon a broad public school 
training. For the continuation school in order to attain 



^I^] ECONOMIC EFFECTS 313 

a maximum of social efficiency, must be preceded by a pro- 
longed and thorough training of the child. Were all the 
children to be released from school at the age of 12 and 
then given compulsory continuation school work, the re- 
sults would not be as satisfactory as they would be were the 
children not released until they were 14. Nor would as 
favorable results be obtained when the continuation school 
work began at 14, as when the compulsory attendance laws 
were raised to 16 and the continuation school began work 
then. The continuation school, in order to succeed, must 
have mature rather than immature students. 

4. Some Additional Effects of Industrial Education. 
There are two further probable effects of a general system 
of industrial education that are worthy of notice: (1) the 
lessening of unemployment and (2) the increased use of 
machinery. ( i ) Were the w^orker better trained, he might 
well take a greater interest in his work and be less liable to 
throw up his job through sheer ennui. Moreover, once 
unemployed, he would find it easier to secure work because 
his general trainijig- would fit him for positions which 
otherwise he would find it difficult, if not impossible, to fill. 
Personal dislocation as a cause of unemployment would 
be lessened and perhaps even removed. 

(2) Moreover, labor-saving machinery would probably 
be introduced. As we have seen, the wages of the unskilled 
would increase if, by means of continuation schools, passage 
were made easv from one non-competing manual group to 
another. Now it pays the employer to economize in the use 
of well-paid workmen where it may not pay him with low- 
paid labor. If labor is cheap, the employer tends to be satis- 
fied either with no machinery at all or with antiquated 
equipment. If wages are, therefore, increased, it then be- 
comes uneconomical to waste this expensive labor and new 



314 . INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [520 

machinery is either invented to economize effort or the 
existing equipment is bettered. 

The prevention of child labor at night in the glass 
factories of Illinois and Ohio was followed within five years 
(i9cx>i905) by an increase in output of 98%, while in 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where child labor was per- 
mitted, the increase was only 25%. This greater increase 
was largely caused by the removal of the cheap supply of 
child labor. Men were hired at higher wages for the 
positions formerly occupied by children, and manufacturers 
consequently introduced more efficient methods of glass 
blowing to economize the expenditure of high-priced labor. ^ 
The enactment of minimum wage laws in Australasia and 
the consequent increase in wages produced a similar effect. 
Mr. Ernest Aves, in his classic investigation, found that it 
had compelled the use of better machine methods. ''' Many 
other illustrations of the same general nature could l>e 
given. 

Undoubtedly, therefore, an increase in the wages of the 
unskilled would mean a further development of machinery 
and automatic processes. Much of the present unskilled 
labor is so automatic that it could indeed easily be replaced 
by machinery. The result would be to decrease the field for 
unskilled labor, while it would at the same time increase 
the productivity of industry and still further enhance wages.' 

* Far a fuller statement of the development of machine methods 
caused by the elimination of child labor, see Bull. 185, National Child 
Labor Committee y p. 14; and The Survey, March 11. 191 1, p. 976. 

'See Parliamentary Reports for 1908, vol. 72, p. 167. To the question 
"hasi the minimum wage compelled the use of better machine methods," 
68 manufacturers answer, "yes" and only 2 "no." 

•That is, ceteris paribus. A counter movement, such as the suppres- 
sion of labor organizations, might more than overcome this. 



CHAPTER XV 

The Attitude of Labor and Capital Towards 
Industrial Education 

This chapter will trace the evolution of the opinions 
about industrial education which have been held by the 
various industrial groups, and will then analyze the present 
attitude of labor and capital upon a number of connected 
issues. 

I. The Attiticde of Labor. The laboring classes were at 
first decidedlv suspicious of industrial education. They re- 
garded it as merely a method by which the employers could 
train swarms of boys, inculcate them with anti-union doc- 
trines, and then bring them into the factories to undermine 
wages and deprive union men of employment. It is this 
fear of lowering the standard rate which leads many union- 
ists today to distrust industrial education. 

A decade and a half ago when the trade school was re- 
garded as the most practicable plan of industrial education, 
the unions generally charged these schools with being " scab 
hatcheries." Thoug;h these charges were widely circulated, 
they were rarely accompanied with specific proof of such 
action on the pirt of any school. There have probably not 
been more than three schools which have taken an 
open anti-union policy and have sought to train boys to be 
used as strike-breakers. These were : ( i ) the New York 
Trade School. Soon after this school was founded, in the 
early eighties, it furnished strike breakers in a local strike. 
Since then, so far as is known, this action has not been re- 
521] 315 



3i6 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [522 

peated either by it, or by any other school in New York. 
(2) The Winona Technical Institute of Indianapolis, 
Indiana. This school was founded in 1904 by friends of 
the Winona relig^ious movement and by manufacturing in- 
terests. Various manufacturers' organizations furnished 
$50,000 worth of equipment and gave approximately 
$15,000 a year to its support. The school was thus chiefly 
supported by the manufacturers' organizations and it was 
largely directed by them. Forty-one of the fifty directors 
were manufacturers while only seven were ministers, and 
the policy was consequently shaped by the employing in- 
terests. The teachers were recruited from the trades and 
were nominated by the National Association of Manufactur- 
ers. Needless to say, the school was aggressively anti-union 
in its attitude; the students were taught to abhor trade 
unionism and to believe in individual bargaining. When 
these students went into the trades however they soon joined 
the unions, and the purpose of the manufacturers was 
defeated. The school became embroiled in financial dif- 
ficulties and was placed under new management in 1909, 
Since then it has not been anti-union in its policy. (3) A 
school for molders in Chicago during the nineties. This 
school was run by the employers in the molding trade and 
its students were used by the directors of the school to break 
strikes. This school has how^ever also failed. 

While open hostility to the unions was practised by only 
a few schools, it is nevertheless true that most of the 
schools were distinctly unsympathetic towards collective 
bargaining: and their covert influence was anti-union. There 
is probably not a school in the country today that is openly 
hostile to the unions or one that has within recent years 
supplied strike breakers. Of course, many schools are con- 
trolled by men who do not believe in trade unionism and 
these schools, therefore, probably discourage the union side 



^23] THE ATTITUDE OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 317 

of the case from being advanced but, at least, they do not 
take sides openly with the employers, or furnish strike 
breakers. 

Distrustful of privately endowed and managed schools, 
the labor unions have made some progress in establishing 
schools under their own direction. In 1903, the American 
Federation of Labor appointed a committee to consider the 
manual training and technical training given by the unions 
themselves. This committee reported that '' the subject of 
manual training: and technical education to be given by 
trade-unions is of such a general character that this con- 
vention could not very well recommend any plan or policy 
that would apply equally to all unions on account of the 
diversity of conditions and difference in skill required.'' ^ 
Though committees were appointed in 1904 and again in 
1905, they never reported. 

Trade union schools were established among others by the 
Printing Pressmens Union in 191 2, by the Chicago Carpen- 
ters Union in 1907, and by the New York Typographical 
workers in 1909. The International Typographical Union 
established a correspondence course in 1907 which has given 
instruction to many thousand printers. The task of training 
workers was of course too heavy for the limited financial 
and educational resources of the unions to bear. 

In 1907, Professor Charles R. Richards, then secretary of 
the newly-formed National Society for the Promotion of 
Industrial Education, addressed the American Federation of 
Labor and asked for its co-operation. He assured the union 
men that the new movement did not intend to play into the 
hands of the employers, and that industrial education would 
greatly benefit labor by giving to it the training which had 
been absent since the downfall of apprenticeship. As a 

1 Report of Committee on Industrial Education of the A. F. of L., 
published as Senate Document No. 93, 62nd Congress, 2nd Session, p. 21. 



3i8 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [524 

result of his address the convention instructed the committee 
on education to study the matter. In 1908 the convention 
passed a resolution declaring tloat 

there are two groups with opposite methods and seeking anta- 
gonistic ends now advocating industrial education in the United 
States. One of these groups is composed largely of the non- 
union employees of the country who advance industrial educa- 
tion as a special privilege under conditions that educate the 
student or apprentice to non-union sympathies, and prepare him 
as a skilled worker for scab labor and strike breaking purposes, 
thus using the children of the workers against the interest of 
their organized fathers and brothers. This group also favors 
the training of the student or apprentice for skill in only one 
industrial process, thus making the graduate a skilled worker 
in only a very limited sense and rendering him helpless if lack 
of employment comes in his single subdivision of a craft. 

The other group is composed of great educators, enlightened 
representatives of organized labor, and persons engaged in 
genuine social service who advocate industrial education as a 
common right, to be open to all children on equal terms, to be 
provided by general taxation and kept under the control of the 
whole people with a method or system of education that will 
make the apprentice graduate a skilled craftsman in all the 
branches of his trade. ^ 

The convention further declared that *' organized labor 
has the largest personal and the highest public interest in 
the subject of industrial education and should enlist its 
ablest men in behalf of the best system under the conditions 
that will promote the interests of the workers and the 
general welfare." ^ 

A committee of fifteen was appointed to investigate the 
matter and a preliminary report was made to the T90Q con- 

' Senate Document No. 936, op. cit., p. 22. 
' Ibid., p. 22. 



^25] ^^^ ATTITUDE OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 319 

vention. The committee was carried over to the 19 10 con- 
vention and it induced the United States Bureau of Labor 
to undertake a survey of the existing faciHties for industrial 
education. 

A report of this committee on industrial education, 
drafted largely by Charles H. Winslow and John Mitchell, 
is one of the most remarkable documents in the history of 
industrial education. It was adopted in its final form by 
the convention of 191 1. The committee placed itself 
squarely on record in favor of industrial education and 
declared that: 

If the American workman is to maintain the high standard of 
efficiency, the boys and girls of the country must have an op- 
portunity to acquire educated hands and brains, such as may 
enable them to earn a living in a self-selected vocation and ac- 
quire an intelligent understanding of the duties of good citizen- 
ship. No better investment can be made by taxpayers than to 
give every youth an opportunity to secure such an education. 
Such an opportunity is not now within the reach of the great 
majority of the children of the wage workers. The present 
system is inadequate and unsatisfactory. Only a small frac- 
tion of the children who enter the lower grades continue until 
they finish the high school course. The prime causes for with- 
drawal are, first, a lack of interest on the part of the pupils 
and, secondly, on the part of the parents and a dissatisfaction 
that the schools do not offer instruction of a more practical 
character. The pupils become tired of the work they have in 
hand and see nothing more inviting in the grades ahead. They 
are conscious of powers, passions and tastes which the school 
does not recognize. They long to grasp things with their own 
hands and test the strength of materials and the magnitude 
of forces. 

Owing to past methods and influences, false views and absurd 
notions possess the minds of too many of our youth, which 
cause them to shun work at the trades and to seek the of^.ce or 



320 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [526 

store as much more genteel and fitting. This notion will be 
entirely eradicated if industrial training becomes a part of our 
school system. And in consequence of this system of training 
he will advance greatly in general intelligence as well as tech- 
nical skill and in mental and moral worth. He will be a better 
citizen and a better man and will be more valuable to society 
and to the country.^ [The committee further declared that] 
The 90 per cent who are going into manual occupations have 
the sajne right to the best preparation for their life's work that 
the state can give them as has the 10 per cent who go into the 
professions. - 

The committee did not confine itself to a general indorse- 
ment of industrial education but made a specific declaration 
of policy. Some of the more important points in its pro- 
gram were: 

( 1 ) Industrial education should not displace any of the 
present greneral education but should be added to it. Up to 
the age of 14, the pupil's time should be devoted to general 
education; after that, industrial education can begin, but 
not before. 

(2) Industrial education should be controlled and dir- 
ected by the public, not by private institutes or corporations. 

(3) Supplemental technical education for those already 
employed in the trades should be provided by means of con- 
tinuation schools. 

(4) Schools should be established whereby children be- 
tween fourteen and sixteen might be taught the principles 
of trades. 

(5) The training given in these schools should be 
thorough and not merely prepare the worker for a 
s[>ecialized machine position. 

'Senate Document No. 936, op. cit., p. 112. 
"^ Ibid., p. 19. 



c^2y] THE ATTITUDE OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 321 

(6) While the student might be employed upon produc- 
tive work, emphasis should be " placed upon education 
rather than upon product." 

(7) The teachers of industrial subjects should have 
practical experience and should be recruited from the trades 
themselves. 

(8) A svstem of vocational guidance should be estab- 
lished to determine the child's aptitudes. 

(9) The curriculum should include civic and social sub- 
jects as well as trade technique. As the report stated, " we 
want men as well as mechanics." 

(10) Trade-unions should not only establish schools of 
their own wherever possible, but should agitate for the 
creation of a system of industrial education conforming to 
the standards laid down. 

Through this report, the A. F. of L. came to support in- 
dustrial education enthusiastically with a definite program 
to fight for. The report was of really epoch-making signi- 
ficance because it caused the labor forces of the country to 
use their influence for a constructive program of vocational 
education, instead of confining their efforts to the negative 
and sterile policy of opposition. 

This action of the general federation spread slowly back 
to the unions themselves and the old hostility to vocational 
education be^an to disappear. Many state federations be- 
gan to agitate for the adoption of industrial education. Mr. 
Gompers again pledged the support of labor at the 1914 
convention of the National Society for the Promotion of 
Industrial Education and used all his influence to secure the 
passage of the Smith-Hughes Bill through Congress. In- 
deed, it is doubtful whether that act, giving federal aid to 
state projects for vocational education, could have been 
enacted had it not been for the active support of the labor 
leaders. We have already pointed out that this act pro- 



322 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [528 

vided that one of the members of the Federal Board should 
represent labor. Mr. Arthur E. Holder, a prominent leader 
of the A. F. of L., was appointed to this position and he 
has been very influential in framing the Board's policies on 
various problems. 

Since the passag:e of the act, the A. F. of L. has still 
further defined its position. The 191 7 convention adopted 
a resolution ur^ing^ all affiliated unions to press for the 
acceptance of the Smith-Hughes Act by the states.^ The 
resolution declared however that it was necessary to prevent 
the system of industrial education from being perverted to 
the purposes of exploitation. It declared that the best safe- 
guard against this was to give organized labor equal 
representation with the employers on all state and local 
boards created to administer industrial education. The re- 
solution also stated that no separate system of control should 
be set up but that the administration of industrial education 
should be unified with all other educational work. Other 
important features of the report were the statements that : 

(i) Vocational and pre-vocational training shall be for educa- 
tional purposes only and under no circumstances shall it be 
commercialized through the manufacture of products for sale. 
(2) In all courses of study — the privileges and obligations of 
intelligent leadership must be taught more vigorously and effec- 
tively than has been done in the traditional civics. (3) At least 
in all vocational and industrial courses, an unemasculated in- 
dustrial history must be taught, which will include an accurate 
account of the organization of the workers and of the results 
thereof and will also include a summary of all legislation, both 
State and Federal, affecting the industries taught. 

These resolutions quite clearly show that organized labor 

■f For text of resolution adopted see Proceedings 19 17 Convention of 
A. F. of L.,pp. 391-93- 



529] THE ATTITUDE OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 323 

did not feel that the battle was won with the mere passage 
of the Sriiith-Hu^hes Act but that it was resolved to de- 
mocratize the system of industrial training to be established. 
Of especial note is their insistence that vocational training 
should include not only trade instruction, but an understand- 
mg of the history of industr}^, the necessity for collective 
action, the relation of the state to industry, and the duties of 
citizenship. 

^. The Attitude of the Employers. Employers early 
welcomed and supported the trade-school, both because they 
believed that it would provide a means of trade-training, 
and because they believed that it would remove preparation 
for the trades from the potential or actual control of the 
unions. The various associations of employers, most not- 
ably the National Association of Manufacturers, claimed 
that the unions through their limitation of apprentices were 
hostile to industrial education. The employers therefore 
advocated both crushing the power of the unions over ap- 
prenticeship and building up a system of industrial educa- 
tion. The committees on Industrial Education of the 
National Association of Manufacturers, during the first few 
years, devoted nearly all their spare time to the denunciation 
of the inequities of the union apprenticeship regulations 
with a minimum of constructive suggestion.' 

The trade school was the type that early met with the 
greatest favor on the part of the manufacturers. The 

1 Thus the Committee on Industrial Education of the N. A. M when 
informed of the intention of trying to get organized labor interested 
m mdustrial education, declared that " to invite labor leaders affiliated 
with the American Federation of Labor to become members of the 
Society (the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Edu- 
cation) would be tantamount to inviting the devil and all his imps to 
participate in a movement for the promotion of the Christian Religion 
as taught by the lowly Nazarene while on earth ! " " Report of Com- 
mittee on Industrial Education." Proceedings 14th Annual Convention 
National Association of Manufacturers, 1909, p. 2. 



324 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [530 

annual conventions of the National Association of Manufac- 
turers from 1905; to 1908 endorsed the trade school but 
seemed to feel that the communities should depend for their 
creation upon the donations of philanthropists rather than 
upon the use of public funds. 

The National Association of Manufacturers also urged 
that industrial training should be begun at as early an age 
as possible. Thus Mr. J. W. Van Cleave. President of the 
Association, declared that the training should commence 
" just as soon as the boy can hold tools in his hand or say 
at the age of nine or ten. Give an hour ever}^ school day 
under a competent instructor to the use of tools through 
all the primary grades. Make this instruction compulsory on 
every boy." ^ Such a plan would of course have meant that 
some of the curriculum for those under 14 would have been 
inevitably displaced. 

Shortly after iQio, Mr. H. E. Miles of Wisconsin was 
made chairman of the Committee on Industrial Education 
of the National Association of Manufacturers and a series 
of reports was made under his guidance of a more progressive 
nature. The 191 1 report^ states that the trade school was 
incompetent to solve the problem and that the Munich and 
Wisconsin system of compulsory continuation schools for 
those over 14 in industry should be universally adopted. 
To that end, federal and state aid was urged. The con- 
vention as a whole resolved that "we favor the establish- 
ment in every community of continuation schools wherein 
the children of 14 to 18 years of age now in the industries 
shall be instructed in the science and art of their respective 
industries and in citizenship. 



>J s 



^J. W. Van Cleave, "Let Us Send the Whole Boy to School." 
Bulletin of the National Association of Manufacturers, p. 4. 

■Reprinted as Bulletin No. 22 of the National Association of Manu- 
facturers. 

*Ibid., p. 15. 



^3l] THE ATTITUDE OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 325 

The 191 2 report^ again pointed out the superiorities of 
the continuation over the trades school as the core of any 
system of industrial education. New features were the 
recommendations: (i) that no deduction of wages should 
be made for the time during which the juvenile worker at- 
tended the continuation school (this time was to be not 
less than one-half day per week) ; (2) that so far as possible 
the teachers of industrial subjects should be recruited from 
the trades; (3) that the administration of industrial educa- 
tion in each state and locality should be under the direction 
of a special board composed of practical men, and not under 
the regular school boards ; (4) that a revision of the appren- 
ticeship laws should be made along the lines of the Wisconsin 
legislation with provision for specific indenturing, state sup- 
ervision of the contract, and the requirement that the whole 
trade must be taught. The Convention passed a resolution 
embodying these points.^ 

The 191 3 report^ again stated that the continuation 
schools furnish the broad base upon which a system of in- 
dustrial education should be built and that the trade school 
was merely the apex of the pyramid. The report declared 
that '' we of the United States have tried for thirty odd 
years to build the apex of our pyramid before laying its 
foundation and small indeed has been our accomplish- 
ment." * 

The convention passed a resolution declaring that '' state 
and local boards of control should be created (either as now 
bodies or re-organizations of former bodies) consisting prin- 
cipally of employers and employees from the vocations." ^ 

^ Published as Bulletin No. 28 of the National Association of Manu- 
facturers. 

^Ibid.,p.3S. 

' Published as Bulletin No. 34 of the N. A. M. 

*Ibid., p. 3. 

* Ibid., p. 24, 



326 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [532 

It was at this time that the Chicago Commercial Club and the 
Illinois Manufacturers Association were supporting the so- 
called " Cooley Bill " before the Illinois legislature pro- 
viding for the control of vocational education by a separate 
board. 

The Reports of 19 14, 191 5 and 19 16 did not develop any 
new principles. The National Association of Manufac- 
turers supported the Smith-Hughes Bill for federal aid and 
worked with its rival, the American Federation of Labor, 
for its adoption. 

Just as many unions have sought to develop schools for 
trade-training, so have many employers associations. Per- 
haps the most notable effort was that made by the United 
Typothetae and Franklin Clubs. This organization estab- 
lished and maintained a School of Printing at Indianapolis. 
Indiana, and also established certain other schools the 
most prominent of which was the one at Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts. In IQ13 the association created a permanent 
committee on apprentices. This committee engaged in 
several activities, but their chief work was the preparation 
of a series of text-books on various aspects of the industry 
to assist the novices to master their trade. ^ 

J. Some Points of Convict between Labor mid Employers. 
It is not to be expected that organized labor and capital, 
w^hose interests and policies differ so wndely on so many 
political and economic questions, should agree on all aspects 
of industrial education. Now that the foundations for a 
national system are laid, it is inevitable that there should 
be conflicting opinions on certain points in its operation and 
administration. The experience of the past two decades, 
together with present tendencies, serve to indicate what 
some of these points of conflict are likely to be. 

^See Report of Committee on Apprentices, United Typothetae and 
Franklin Clubs of America. October 8, 1914. 



533] ^^^ ATTITUDE OF LABOR AND CAPITAL 327 

(a) Control. Despite the fact that for the present, the 
dual system of administration seems to be defeated, it is 
probable that it will not be long before many employers will 
demand that separate boards be created to administer voca- 
tional education within the respective states. The attempt 
by the Illinois Manufacturers Association and the Chicago 
Commercial Club to accomplish this purpose through the 
Cooley Bill cannot be viewed as an isolated occurrence. 
When once the novelty has worn off the various state 
systems of industrial education, it seems inevitable, in many 
states at least, that the employers will demand that more 
"practical" men be added to the controlling boards. A 
moderate admixture of this class would indeed be of distinct 
advantage and would probably be approved of by the unions, 
provided that they too were granted equal representation 
with the employers. 

The preponderance of such interests, however, or the 
creation of specialized boards, would undoubtedly be op- 
posed by org:anized labor with all the vigor at its command. 
That some such contest is likely to occur is evident. In 
this contest, labor will have the advantage of the status, 
quo and will not be compelled to wage an offensive struggle, 
but can instead merely defend the existing system. 

(b) Content of Courses. Here again in the light of 
what has happened, as well as of the logic of the situation, 
we may expect spirited opposition between the two groups 
of interests. The employer wants to have his " hands " 
trained to become better and more docile workmen. Organ- 
ized labor, of course, does Avant to train better workmen 
within certain limits, but it also wants these workmen to 
be given a training in and an appreciation of the industrial 
and political background of their work, and also a pre- 
paration which will enable them to co-operate more effec- 



328 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [534 

tively with their fellows to better the condition of their 
class as a whole. The first part of this program would be 
regarded by the more militant type of employer as unneces- 
sary while the second would be considered as an innovation 
to be resisted at all costs. 

(c) The Number to he Trained for Particular Trades. 
Just as this question was perhaps the chief point of conflict 
between labor and capital on the regulation of apprentice- 
ship, so may it be the rock upon w^hich they will split in the 
administration of industrial education. All grades of labor 
have not as vet been reduced by the machine process to one 
interchangeable group. There are still classes of labor that 
are somewhat distinct from the unskilled. This skilled 
group enjoys hig^her real wages than the unskilled largely 
because of its monopolistic position and the limitation of 
its supply caused by the fact that the children of the un- 
skilled and poorer paid classes are largely debarred from 
learning a trade. To be sure, the distinction between these 
classes is not sharp and is more and more tending to be 
obliterated by the development of machinery. It is, how- 
ever, still existent. Furthermore, a large proportion of 
the A. F. of L. membership and a still larger proportion of 
the " elder statesmen " who direct its policies belong to 
this aristocracy of labor. 

Now, in so far as the new system of industrial education 
will permit the unskilled to pass into the upper ranks of 
labor, the monopolistic advantages of the skilled trades will 
be destroyed. The real wages of the unskilled will be raised 
by the decrease in their numbers, while the real wages of 
the skilled w^ill be lowered until an equality of reward for 
equal effort and ability between the two groups is reached. 
Beneficial as this would be for the general public, it would 
be foolish to l>elieve, unless a new wave of solidarity sweeps 



535] THE ATTITUDE OF LABOR ASD CAPITAL 329 

over the world of labor, that this will be quietly acquiesced 
in by the still powerful skilled trades. For them at least, 
it will mean a real deprivation of advantages they have 
hitherto possessed. 

Mr. Gompers's cryptic statement before the National 
Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education that 
''Industrial education must maintain a fair and proper ap- 
portionment of the supply of labor power to the demand for 
labor power in every line of work " ^ and similar statements 
will be cited by the spokesmen of the skilled trades as a 
ground for their opposition. The very fact that their wages 
are bein^ lowered will be regarded as proof positive that 
there is an over-supply of labor being trained for that trade. 
The result may well be that the skilled trades will try to have 
just enough men trained to maintain their wages. 

On the other hand, there is the danger that so many will 
by trained for particular occupations that an actual glut will 
ensue and a large number will be rendered idle or compelled 
to follow other trades. The determination of how many men 
should be trained for the various trades is indeed not an 
easy matter. It calls not only for much careful study of 
the actual conditions of each trade but for a well thought 
out policy as well. An approach to this problem is out- 
lined in the concluding^ chapter. 

{d) Payment of Child's Wages While Attending Con- 
tinuation School. Much difficulty has been encountered in 
enforcing the various compulsory continuation school laws 
for young workers, by the action of many employers, who 
either deduct the time spent in school from the child's wages, 
or discharge him outright. This of course puts the em- 
ployers who do pay the children wages for the school-time 

1 The Attitude of the American Federation of Labor Towards In- 
dustrial Education, p. 5. 



330 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [536 

at a distinct disadvantage. Where the child is not paid 
for attendance, he tends to lose interest in the school-work, 
while if he is discharged both he and his parents become 
embittered. A movement is under way to compel the em- 
ployer to pay the children for the time spent in school. The 
majority of employers will probably oppose this measure 
while organized labor will, in general, favor it. If such an 
act is passed, it will probably lead to a lowering of the hourly 
wage in order to make up for the time spent in school. 
This however would at least establish a substantial unifor- 
mity of practice which would be far preferable to the 
present conflicting policies, with their inevitable accom- 
paniment of dissatisfaction. 



CHAPTER XVI 

A Program 

We return to the same point from which we started. 
How can we, in our complex industrial society, devise a 
system which will fulfill all the functions of the old-time 
apprenticeship and at the same time improve upon its 
less favorable aspects. Certainly it cannot be done pri- 
marily by trying to breathe new life into the decaying 
system of formal apprenticeship itself. Apprenticeship can 
never revive appreciably under modern industry with all of 
its impersonality, its division of labor, the ephemerality of 
the relationship between worker and employer, and its 
basic motive of profit. Rather must our efforts be turned 
towards bringing a number of factors into harmony, so 
that children may be at once protected from the undue 
burdens of industrial life and enabled to develop themselves. 
H then, we try to g:ather together the threads of the dis- 
cussion and to determine just what policy should be adopted 
for the future, is it not apparent that at least the following 
steps should be taken? 

I. Raise the Age of Compulsory Full-Time Education to 
i6 Years. The years that a child spends from 14 to 16 in 
industry today are worse than wasted. He is not ready for 
industry at 14 and, if he works, he can only do so in blind- 
alley trades and then only intermittently. Vocational guid- 
ance is impossible for the 14-year-old child since there are 
few occupations into which he can conscientiously be guided 
which will accept him. Continuation schools, while valuable 
537] 331 



332 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [538 

as an alleviatory measure, can only better the situation to an 
inappreciable degree. The only effective way to protect the 
manhood of our youth from being degraded by the work 
they are now engaged in is to prohibit them from working. 
The children who leave school at 14 or 15 cannot be called 
educated, since few of them have finished the grammar 
grades. They are too scantily equipped to face life and 
need further protection and development. Certain states 
have made tentative beginnings at raising the age and educa- 
tional requirements for compulsory school attendance above 
14, and the time seems ripe to raise our national educational 
minimum to 16 years. 

2. Provide Scholarships to Compensate Parents of Poor 
Children for Loss of Earning Power. To require children 
to attend school until 16 and to make no financial provision 
for their support would be to throw an unjustifiable burden 
upon the already overtaxed shoulders of the poor. Free 
tuition is not enough to ensure free education. The poor 
would suffer greatly if deprived of even the meager earn- 
ings of their children for two years. In order to protect 
needy parents from this economic disability, they should be 
granted scholarships of from 50 to 75%' of what the child 
would be able to earn were he at w^ork. Scholarships of 
that nature have been successfully administered by the 
Henry Street Settlement in New York and by the White 
Williams Foundation of Philadelphia. These scholarships, 
however, should probably always be somewhat less than 
what the child would be able to earn, in order that the parent 
may feel some responsibility. They should be carefully 
administered and be given only to the needy, while contact 
with the family should be maintained while the child is in 
school. The school is the logical instrumentality to admin- 
ister these scholarships, and a new type of social worker is 
clearly needed to be attached to the schools for this purpose. 



539] ^ PROGRAM 333 

Perhaps a combination of family visitor, school nurse, and 
teacher is needed to coordinate these various functions. 

J. Revise the School Curriculum for the Two Added 
Years. It would be inconsistent to require two years more 
of school and at the same time to maintain the existing cur- 
riculum with all its faults. The curriculum should be re- 
vised so as to give general information and education in 
these last two years and at the same time give the child some 
prevocational work, preferably in the form of manual train- 
ing. It should be general and preparatory in nature, keep- 
ing the child away from undue early specialization, and be 
such as would permit him to enter any one of a number of 
trades or industries. 

4. Create an Adequate System of Vocational Guidance 
and Supervision of the Young Worker. During the 14-16 
year old periods the schools should inform the child 
about the opportunities in various industries and should 
try to develop his interests. Guidance, however, is 
useless without placement and follow-up work, and for that 
reason we need the re-establishment of a nation-wide system 
of public employment offices, equipped with a special 
juvenile division, which will cooperate with the schools and 
try to place the child in proper positions. Despite the de- 
cision of the Supreme Court in the Washington case, it 
seems necessary, moreover, that these public employment 
offices be given the exclusive monopoly of placing at least 
juvenile workers. 

The juvenile branches of these public employment offices 
should of course keep in close touch with the shop and 
should follow up the work of the child on the job and 
guide him further as may be necessary.^ If he is required 

1 For an account of the English experience, see Arthur Greenwood, 
Juvenile Labor Exchanges and After-Care. 



334 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [540 

to clear through them every time that he seeks a new job, a 
permanent record can be kept and his progress followed 
much more effectively. Such bureaus, moreover, would be 
able to try out on a wider scale the experimentation on 
mental and physical tests now being conducted by Mrs. 
Wooley in Cincinnati, and, by correlating them with actual 
success in industry, should be able to work out approximately 
accurate criteria of ability. 

5. Establish Compulsory Continuation Schools for Child- 
ren Between 16 and 18 in all American Communities. 
With the raising of the compulsory school age from 14 to 
16, the ages for compulsory continuation school attendance 
should also be moved up tw^o years. Attendance at these 
should be for not less than 8 hours per week for the |>ericKi 
of from 16 to 18 years. If a child is unemployed during 
these years, he should be compelled to attend school full-time 
until he finds another position. This would at once protect 
the child from the perils surrounding idleness and deter him 
from throwing up positions at the slightest excuse. The 
curriculum of these continuation schools should include 
trade extension, trade preparatory and general subjects. 
By means of the continuation school, therefore, society 
would be enabled to keep its supervision over the boy for a 
still longer period. 

6. Prohibit the Entrance into Certain "Blind-Alley" 
Trades for Children under t8. Certain kinds of labor are 
disastrous for youth and since a 16 year old child cannot 
be depended upon to choose wisely, the state should protect 
the child and itself from the consequences of the ignorance, 
helplessness and carelessness of the individual. Among the 
jobs which should be barred are the street trades, such as 
those of messenger boy, newsboy and bootblack and for 
girls, chambermaid work in hotels and boarding houses, etc. 



541] A PROGRAM 335 

7. Establish Voluntary Schools for Those Over rS to be 
Conducted during Off -Hours and During Periods of Un- 
employment. Opportunity for education should be pro- 
vided for those over 18 who wish to study further. These 
classes may be held at night, or better still, on Saturdays. 
The subjects taught should include not only an expansion 
of the trade extension and trade preparation training given 
in the compulsory continuation schools, but subjects of a 
general and cultural nature as well. As Mr. and Mrs. 
Sydney Webb suggest, there should be opportunity for the 
unemployed adults to study trades while idle, and thus be 
better prepared to obtain and hold positions. 

8. Create a Limited Number of Trade-Schools. The 
role of the trade-school is but a minor one. A few such 
schools would be very valuable in training men, already 
experienced in industry, to become especially skilled or to 
train them for foremanship. Scholarship arrangements by 
which plants would send some of their promising men to 
the trade-schools would be a most effective method of co- 
operation. 

9. Every Industrial Enterprise of Moderate Size should 
Establish a Training Department and an Industrial Relations 
Division, Charged zvith Real Powers. The worker needs 
to be guided and directed at his work. This cannot be left 
solely to the foremen, since they are already overburdened 
by the myriad of tasks that are heaped upon them. The 
creation of a functionalized training department, heading 
up under a general industrial relations division, would 
furnish a definite instrumentality whereby new men might be 
*' broken in " with a minimum of loss and the efficiency of 
the older hands raised.^ This would also permit of the 

^ For an outline of suggested organization, see my article " Plant Ad- 
ministration of Labor," Journal of Political Economy, July, 1919, pp. 

544-5^- 



336 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [542 

changing of men from position to position, and the adop- 
tion of scientific methods of promotion. Such a depart- 
ment would train workers for specific positions and give 
the speciaHzed production training that no school system can 
impart. 

10. Organise each Industry and Secure Collective Action 
in Training the Workers. It has been pointed out that 
when the burden of training workmen rests solely upon the 
individual firm, concerns are deterred from training lest 
other employers should '' steal " the men once they have 
been trained, while many others are so small that they can- 
not afford an adequate training department. The em- 
ployers and employees of an industry organized in a joint 
body,^ similar to the Whitley councils in England, could 
take steps to meet the situation by (a) pledging themselves 
not to entice apprentices from the plant that trained them, 
(b) carrying on trade investigations and publishing courses 
of study to assist individual plants in their training pro- 
gram, (c) creating and supporting schools or preferably 
training departments within plants, whereby the training 
given the workmen of the smaller plants may be pooled, (d) 
computing, with the assistance of governmental authorities, 
the number of learners needed annually in the industry as 
a whole,^ and (e) advising the educational authorities con- 
cerning the vocational education given under the public 
school system. 

IT. Enact and Enforce Legislation Providing for the 

1 The employers and unions in the book and job printing trades are 
beginning to take joint action on the control and supervision of 
apprenticeship. 

2 For an excellent discussion of the proper method of computing the 
number of skilled workers needed, together with the necessary mathe- 
matical formulae see C. P. Sanger, " The Fair Number of Apprentices 
to a Trade," Economic Journal, vol. v, pp. 613-36. 



543] ^ PROGRAM 337 

Registration and Supervision of Formal Apprenticeship by 
the States. State action however is needed to supplement 
action by the industries as well as to provide general direc- 
tion should the industries refuse to adopt collective 
measures. The Wisconsin apprenticeship law might well 
be followed by all the industrial states, and thus make 
apprenticeship a definite and supervised contract to be car- 
ried out by both parties. Legislation without proper ad- 
ministration, however, is useless and a specialized agenc}^ 
should be created to follow up the apprentice problem and 
see that the contracts were respected. Such a system, by 
making the conditions definite, might well lead, as in Wis- 
consin, to a moderate recrudescence of apprenticeship. 

12. Confide the Administration of the System of Voca- 
tional Education in the Main to the Same Body that Admin- 
isters other Branches of Education. In order to protect 
society, it is necessary that the public system of vocational 
education should be directed by the same body that directs 
general education but it is essential that both workers and 
employers should have advisory committees to advise the 
educational authorities on the needs of industry and the 
best means of coordinating school and shop. 

/J. Increase the Salaries of Teachers of Industrial and 
Vocational Subjects SuiUciently to Attract Skilled Crafts- 
men to the Teaching Profession. The principle that skilled 
workmen should be given teacher-training and then used as 
teachers of vocational subjects is fundamentally sound. 
Skilled workmen, however, will never leave their trades for 
the low salaries now being paid, and in consequence the 
ranks of the teachers are being filled by a large percentage 
of mediocre workmen or by failures. This plainly will pro- 
duce a travesty upon industrial education unless competent 
teachers are secured. They can only be secured by pro- 
viding adequate rewards. 



338 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION [544 

14. Dez/elop Other Agencies beside the State to Assist in 
Providing Supplementary Vocational Training. It has been 
indicated that industrial education should not be solely a 
governmental affair. The government, to be sure, is the 
only agency that can create a compulsory national minimum 
of education, and the main part of the program must neces- 
sarily be confided to it. But other groups can and should 
supplement the efforts of the government. The unions 
might well assist in developing craftsmanship among their 
members, while the employers should continue to develop 
the corporation schools and training departments, and in- 
dividuals mi,^ht endow specialized trade schools. Joint 
industrial councils would also be of assistance. All groups 
can assist and all should do- so. More indeed will be ac- 
complished if there are several bodies approaching the situa- 
tion from different viewpoints, and the result will be an 
enrichment of experience that would be lacking under 
purely governmental activity. 

75. Hofue System Administered from the Standpoint of 
Social as well as Industrial Efficiency. Apprenticeship was 
an institution designed to turn out good men as well as good 
workmen. Any modern revival that confines its attention 
purely to the immediately practical aspects neglects, there- 
fore, a significant part of the old system. This neglect 
should not be tolerated in any plan devised. It is as im- 
portant for society tO' have good citizens as it is for industry 
to have efficient workmen. It is as important for the in- 
dividual to know how to live as it is for him to know how to 
make a living. The curriculum of any such system of in- 
dustrial education should, therefore, include such subjects 
as civics, hygiene, physical training, practical economics, in- 
dustrial history and literature, as well as more immediately 
utilitarian subjects. 



545] ^ PROGRAM 339 

i6. Prozndc founds for this System from the Social Sur- 
plus. The carrying out of such a program will necessarily 
involve an additional annual expenditure of many million 
dollars. An immediate extension of the existing system of 
federal aid is. therefore, a necessity. These funds should 
be secured by means of income, excess profits and inheri- 
tance taxes derived from the social surplus that the present 
economic system produces. Such a use of the surplus 
would be most productive, for it would be developing the 
human resources of the country and would bring out latent 
talent that would otherwise be unused. 

I/. Create a Federal Department of Education to Ad- 
minister the System. It seems improbable that the Federal 
Board for Vocational Education can continue to administer 
the system of vocational education as it develops. Boards 
are not the best org^ans of administration. It seems clear 
that education deserves to be administered by a federal de- 
partment, whose secretar}^ would be a member of the 
cabinet. Vocational education should form one branch of 
this department. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

A complete bibliography on apprenticeship and industrial education 
would be out of place in a work of this compass. For those, however, 
who wish to go further into the various topics, the following works 
will be found helpful . 

1. The English Background of Apprenticeship: 

Dunlop, J. C. and Denman, R. D., English Apprenticeship and Child 
Labour. 

Scott, Jonathan P., Historical Essays in Apprenticeship and Voca- 
tional Education. 

2. The Historical Development of Apprenticeship in America: 
Seybold, Robert P., Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education in 

Colonial New England and New York. 

Sartorius von Waltershausen, A., Die Arbeifs-Verfassung der Eng- 
lischen Kolonien in Nord-Amerika, Strassburg, 1894. 

Geiser, Karl P., Redemptioners and Indentured Servants in 
Pennsylvania. 

Ballagh, J. C, White Servitude in Virginia. 

MoCormac, E. L., White Servitude in Maryland. 

New York Historical Societies Collections, vols, xviii and xlii con- 
taining indentures of apprentices. 

Luther, Seth, Address to the Workingmen of New England. 

Otey, Beginnings of Child Labor Legislation in Certain States, vol. 
vii of the Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage- 
Earners. 

Commons, John R, and Associates, Documentary History of Ameri- 
can Industrial Society, 10 vols. 

, History of Labor in the United States, 2 vols. 

Lescohier, Don D., The Knights of St. Crispin. 

Whitney, James, Apprenticeship, Philadelphia, 1871. 

Report of Massachusetts Committee on Relations of Apprentices to 
Employers. 

Wright, Carrol D., "Apprenticeship and its Relation to Industrial 
Education," U. iS. Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 6, 1908. 

Douglas, Paul H., " The Recrudescence of Apprenticeship in 
Wisconsin," School and Society, Jan. 5, 1918, pp. 22-23, 
340 [546 



547] BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 341 

3. The Present Condition of Children in Industry : 

Report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, 

House Doc. 1004, 63rd Congress, 2nd Session, 2 vols. 
Thorndike, E. L., " The Elimination of Pupils from Schools," United 

States Bureau of Education, Bull. No. 4, 1908. 
Strayer, George D., "Age and Grade Census of Schools and Colleges," 

United States Bureau of Education, Bull. No. 5, 1911. 
Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage-Earners in the 

United States, 19 vols., Senate Doc. 645, 6ist Congress, 2nd 

Session. 
Barrows, Alice P., "Report of Vocational Guidance Survey," Bull. 

No. 9, Public Education Association of the City of New York. 
Report Massachusetts Commission on Industrial and Technical 

Education (1906). 
Atherton, Sarah H., Survey of Wage-Earning Girls below 16 years 

of age in Wilkesbarre, Pa., published by the National Consumers' 

'League. 
Talbert, Ernest L., Opportunities in School and Industry for Children 

of the Stockyards District. 
Davis, Anne, Finding Employment for Children Who Leave the 

Grade Schools to go to Work. 
Hiatt, J. S., The Child, The School, and The Job. 

4. The Amount and Character of Skill Required in Modern 
Industry : 

de Rousiers, Paul, The Labour Question in Britain. 

Thirteenth Annual Report United States Bureau of Labor, " Report 
on Hand and Machine Labor." 

Taylor, Frederick W., Shop Management. 

Drury, Horace B., Scientific Management. 

The Present State of the Art of Industrial Management, Report 
of Committee on Administration of National Society of Me- 
chanical Engineers (1912). reprinted in C. B. Thompson's 
Scientific Management, pp. 153-174. 

" Vocational Education Survey of Richmond, Va., Bull. 162, U. S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

" Vocational Education Survey of Minneapolis. Minn.," Bull, tqq, 
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

"Vocational Education Surveys of Richmond, Evansville, and 
Indianapolis, Indiana," Indiana State Board of Education. 
Bulletins Nos. 18, 19 and 21. 

5. The Status of Women in Industry: 

Report on the Condition of Women and Child Wage-Earners 
(19 vols.) referred to above. 



342 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE [548 

Abbott, Edith, Women in Industry. 

Hedges, Anna C, The Wage-Worth of School Training. 

References to the studies by Van Kleeck, O'Leary, Bryner, 

Alhnson, Perry, Butler, Leonard, and Phillips on specific trades 

can be found in the footnotes of Chapter VI. 

6. The General Aspects of Industrial Education : 

Eighth Annual Report U, S. Bureau of Labor (1892) on Industrial 

Education. 
Seventeenth Annual Report U. S. Bureau of Labor (1902) on Trade 

and Technical Education. 
" Trade and Technical Education in the United States," Bull. 54, 

U. S. Bureau of Labor ( 1904) . 
Twenty-fifth Annual Report U. S. Bureau of Labor (1910) on 

Industrial Education. 
Bulletins of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial 

Education, now the National Society for Vocational Education. 
Persons. Harlow, S., Industrial Education. 
Leake, A. H., Industrial Education. 

Snedden, David, The Problem of Vocational Education. 
Gillette, J. M., Vocational Education. 
Federal Board for Vocational Education, Bull. 17, Trade and 

Industrial Education. 
Hill, David S., An Introduction to Vocational Education. 

7. The Trade School : 

The Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Technical and 

Industrial Education (1906). 
Dean, Arthur D., The Worker and the State. 

8. Evening and Correspondence Schools : 

Annual Reports Commissioner of Education. 

Jones, Arthur J., " The Continuation School in the United States," 

U. S. Bureau of Education, Bull. No. 1, 1907. 
Van Kleeck, Mary, Working Girls in Evening Schools. 

9. Corporation Schools and Training Departments : 

Publications of the National Association of Corporation Schools. 

Bulletins of the United States Training Service. 

Miles, H. E., " The Vestibule School," The Sun'ey, March 6, 1920, 

pp. 700-706. 
Beatty, A. J., The Corporation School. 
Kelley, Roy W., Training Industrial Workers. 

10. Cooperative and Part-Time Continuation Schools: 

Park, C. W., " The Cooperative System of Education," U. S. Bureau 
of Education, Bull. No. 37, 1916. 



549] BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 343 

' '; \ 

McCann, M. 'R., " The Fitchburg Plan of Cooperative Education," 

Bureau of Education, Bull. No. 50, 1913. 
Kerchensteiner, Georg, Three Lectures on Vocational Training,. 
Cards, Lewis H., " Part-Time Compulsory School Attendance Laws," 

read before National Society for Vocational Education, Feb. 21, 

1920. 
Federal Board for Vocational Education, Bull, ig, " Part-time Trade 

Industrial Education." 

11. Vocational Guidance: 

Brewer, John M., The Vocational Guidance Movement. 

Bloomfield, Meyer, Youth, School and Vocation. 

, " The School and the Start in Life," U. S. Bureau of Education, 

Bull. No. 4, 1914. 

, Readings in Vocational and Moral Guidance. 

Davis, J. B., Vocational and Moral Guidance. 

Wooley, Mary T., " Charting Childhood in Cincinnati," The Survey 

vol. XXX, pp. 601-606 (August 9, 1913). 
, " The Issuing of Working Permits and its Bearing on Other 

School Problems,*' School and Society, vol. i, pp. 726-733 (May 

22, 1915). 
Link, Henry C, Employment Psychology. 

12. Federal Aid for Vocational Education : 

Report of Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, 

2 vols., House Doc. 1004, 63rd Congress, 2nd Session. 
"What is the Smith-Hughes Act?" Bull. No. 28 of the National 

'Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. 
Federal Board for Vocational Education, Bull. No. 2, "Statement 

of Policies." 
First, Second, and Third Annual Reports of the Federal Board for 

Vocational Education. 
Douglas, Paul H., " The Development of a System of Federal 

Grants-in-Aid," Political Science Quarterly, vol. xxxv, pp. 255- 

2y2, 522-545 (June and December, 1920). 

13. The Attitude of Labor and Capital Towards Apprenticeship and 
Industrial Education : 

In addition to the historical references given, see : 

Bemis, Edward W., " The Relations of Trade-Unions to Appren- 
tices," Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. xvi, pp. 76-93. 

Motley, J. M., "Apprenticeship in American Trade Unions," Johns 
Hopkins University Studies. 

Weyl and Sakolski, "Conditions of Entrance to the Principal 
Trades," U. S. Bureau of Labor, Bull No. 67. 



344 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE [^^q 

Sikes, George C, " Old and New Conditions of Apprenticeship in 

Building Trades," Journal of Political Economy, vol. ii, pp. 408. 
Wolfe, French E., "Conditions of Entrance to American Trade 

Unions," Johns Hopkins University Studies. 
Ashworth, John H., " The Helper in American Trades-Unions," 

Johns Hopkins University Studies. 
Report of Committee on Industrial Education of the American 

Federation of Labor, published as Senate Document No. 936, 

62nd Congress, 2nd Session. 
Bulletins National Association of Manufacturers. 
Sanger, C. P., " The Fair Number of Apprentices to a Trade," 

Economic Journal, vol. v, pp. 613-36 (1895). 

14. Economic Aspects of Industrial Education : 

Dodge, J. M., Transactions American Society Mechanical Engineers, 
vol. XXV, pp. 40-48. 

O'Leary, Wesley A., " The Wage Value of Vocational Training," 
Fourth Annual Report New York Factory Uivestigation Com- 
mission, pp. 1411-1460. 

Ellis, A. Casv^ell, " The Money Value of Education," U. S. Bureau 
of Education, Bull. No. 22, igiy. 

Taussig, Frank W., " Minimum Wages for Women," Quarterly 
Journal of Economics, vol. xxx, pp. 411-443. 

The footnotes to the various chapters w^ill also serve as a guide to the 
investigator. There are several bibliographies w^hich will open up a 
wider field, and among these may be mentioned : 

Richards, Charles R., "Selected Bibliography on Industrial Educa- 
tion" (1907), published as Bull. No. 2 of the National Society 
for the Promotion of Industrial Education. 

" Selected Bibliography on Industrial Education " in the Twenty- 
fifth Annual Report of the U. S. Bureau of Labor (1911), pp. 

5 19-539. 

" Bibliography of Industrial, Vocational and Trade Education." U. S. 
Bureau of Education, Bull. No. 22 (1913). 

Brewer, John M., and Kelley, Roy W., A Selected and Critical Biblio- 
graphy of Vocational Guidance (1917), Harvard University Press. 



INDEX 



Accidents, 125-126 
Age of compulsory education ad- 
vocated, 331, 332 ; at which child- 
ren leave school, 85-88 
Agriculture, 26, 27, 28, 38-39, 138 
American Federation of Labor, 
attitude towards apprenticeship 
281 ; advocacy of Smith-Hughes 
bill, 293 ; general policy towards 
industrial education, 315-323 
Americanization classes, 218 
Apprenticeship, definition, 11-12; 
English background, 25, 26; ex- 
tent, 12-16; functions, 19-20, 41- 
47; 49-52; indentured servants 
and. 28-29 ; colonial, 39-52 ; legal 
theories, 12, 22-23-29; effect oi 
factory system upon, 54-56, 56- 
50, 60-62, 73-74 ; 82-84 ; and trades 
unions, 61-67, 69-73 ; 75 ; in Wis- 
consin, 78-80; for women, 48-49; 

schools, 212-218, 222-22^ 

Artificers, Statute of, 25-26 

Arts and Crafts Movement, 122 

Atherton, Sarah, 93 

Aves, Ernest, 314 

Ayres, L. P., 86, 88n, i99n 

B 

Ballagh, J. C, 33f, 38 
Barrows, Alice, 89-90, 92, 97, 201 
Bemis, E. W., 7of 73f 
^Blind-alley'' jobs, 96-99; 334-335 
Bloomfield, Meyer, 271 
Boarding-house system. 258 
Bruce, P. A., 3in, 39 
Building trades, 64, 65, 86, 112, 116 
Butler, Elizabeth B., 160 

C 

Canadian Commission on Tech- 
nical Education, 242 
Chapin, R. C., 90 
551] 



[ Chicago City Club, investigation 
! by, 105, 119 

j Chicago Commercial Club, 301, 327 
Chicago Conference of Working- 
men, 64, 65, 66 
, Child labor, 55, 56-59, 60-61, 85, 
I 86-87, 96-99, 99-105, 105-109 
j Chivalry, 18 

Classes, for unskilled workers, 218 
I Clerical force, 168-170; training 
I of, 222 
! Cygnaeus. 176 

I Clothing industry, 112, 114, 142-150 
' Commons, J. R., ^^I 

Continuation Schools, compared 
with co-operative schools, 244- 
246 ; early advocacy of, 252-253 ; 
Ohio, 253-254; Wisconsin, 254- 
255; New York, 255-256; New 
Jersey. 256; Massachusetts, 256- 
259; Indiana, 259-260, Pennsyl- 
vania, 260-262 ; results of Smith- 
Hughes act upon, 2^2 ; digest of 
recent laws, 263-265 ; advantages 
of, 265-268; economic effects. 
312-3; suggested, 334 
Cooley. E. J., 301 

Cooperative schools, comparisoi» 
with continuation schools. 244- 
250; origin of, 246-248; where 
practised, 247-251 ; evaluation of, 
265-266 
Cooper Union, 234 
Corporation schools, 212-218, 22\- 
228 

Correspondence schools, 239-43 
Cotton industry, 56-59. 100, 112 
^M' 151 

D 

David Ranken School, 189 104 
196. 199 ^. 

Davis. Anne. 08 
Dean, Arthur D., 191 
Debtors. 31-32, 42 

345 



346 



INDEX 



[552 



Dewey, John, 273 

Division of labor, 55-56, 86-87 

Dodge, J. M., 307-308 

Douglas Commission, 90, 96, 190- 

Domestic service, 139-142 
"Diial" control, 301-302, 327 
Dunlap, O. J., 2311. 

£ 

Eastman, Crystal, 125-126 

Economic effects of vocational 
education, 307-314 

Eddis, William, 38 

Ellis, A. Caswell, 308 

Emergency Fleet Corporation, 116, 
,117 

Employment bureaus, for juven- 
iles. 288-290, 333-334 

Evening schools, 229-230; private, 
231-235; puhlic, 235-239 



Factory system, 52-56, 56-60, 62, 
64, 75-76 

Federal Aid, for vocational educa- 
tion. 293-298; response of states 
to, 300-304, 305; advantages of, 
306 

Federal Board for Vocational Edu- 
cation, creation, 294-295 ; powers, 
298-299; activities, 299-302, 304- 
305 

Federal Employment Service, 287, 
290. 233 

Federation of Organized Trades 
and Labor Unions, 75 

Fitchburg cooperative school, 248- 
249 

Flexner, Abraham, 17 

Food industries, 112, 115, 132, 133, 
152-154 

Ford Automobile Works, no 

Foremanship, 120-T22, 130-131,211- 
212 



Gallatin, Albert, 57 

General Electric Co., 219, 226, 227 

German, trade schools, 191-192; 

continuation schools, 24, 252 
G<ompers, Samuel, 321, 329 
Green, Duff, 61 
Guilds, English, 25-26; French, 23; 

Oriental, [6; American, 50 



Glass blowing, 64, 70; child labor 
in, 314 

H 

Handicraft, 51-52 

Hat workers, 61, 63 

Health, of workers, 126, 127, 126 

Henderschott, F. C, 225 

Hoe and Co., 213 

Hirsch, Baron de (Trade School), 

188, 307 
Holder, Arthur E., 2990, 322 
Housekeeping, 170-173 



Immigration, colonial, 27-28, 30- 

:^2> ; ne-w and old, 76-77 
Indenture. 12, 78 
Indentured servants, 27, 39 
Industrial Revolution, 53-55 
Industrial schools, 207-210 
Interest as method of vocational 

g-ui dance, 2'/2,-27y 
Iron-Molders Union. 63. 65 



Job analysis, 287 
Jones, A. J.. 252 



Kirchensteiner. Georg, 191-192, 252 

Knights of St. Crispin, 64 



Labor-saving machinery. 313-314 

Legal theories, of apprenticeship, 
II, 12, 22-23. 29 

Length, of apprenticeship, 13, 14, 
23, 40-41, 49, 51, 60, 66, 67 

Life occupations, of manual train- 
ing graduates. 185 

Link, H. C, 220, 282 

Localization of industry. 198-199 

Luther. Seth, 54, 58 

M 

Machine, building, m ; using, 112- 
117. repairing. 117-119 

Mandatory and permissive con- 
tinuation schools, 253-265 

Manhattan Trade Scliool, 195 

Manual Training. 176-186; origin, 
176-177; beginnings in America, 
177-180; growth. 180-184; inade- 
quacy of, 184-186 



553J 



INDEX 



347 



Maryland, indentured service in, 
27, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36. 3^ ; child 
labor in, 101-103, 105 

Master, 14-15, 34-35, 50-51 

Miles, H. E.. 193, 205, 324 

Millinery, 144-146 

Mitchell, John, 319 

More, L. B., 90-91 

Motley, J. M.. 70 

N 

National Association of Corpora- 
tion Schools, 214-216, 223 

National .\ssociation of Manufac- 
turers, 2Q3, 316, 323, 326 

National Society for Vocational 
Education (National Society for 
the Promotion of Industrial Edu- 
cation), 252, 293, 317, 272 

New England, apprentices and ap- 
prenticeship education, 42-43, 43- 
45; early trades, 39-40; factory 
system 53-54," child labor 57-59 

New York, apprentices'hip and in- 
dentured service in, 40-41, 46; 
apprentice law of, 1871, 67-69 

New York Trade School, 187, 315 

Non-competinig groups, 129-130, 
266-268, 310-313 



Ogburn W. R, 93,95 
O'Leary, W. A., 308 

P 

Parsons, Frank, 270, 277 
Pennsylvania, apprenticeship and) 

indentured service in, 28, 36, 40- 

41, 46 
Permissive and mandatory con- 
tinuation schools, 253-265 
Persons, C E., 134 
Poor law. English, 26; colonial, 

42-43 ; T 9th 'Century. 59 
Poverty. 88-95 
Private schools, early, 56, 230; 

trade. 187-189, 192, 200-202; 

plant, 211-228; evening, 231-235; 

correspondence. 240-243 
Professions. 17, 138 
Program, proposed, 331-339 
Prince. Lucinda W., 167-168 
Prosser. C. A., 299 
Psychological tests, 279-282 
Public Schools, free, 44. 46-47, 86, 

87, 210, 3311-332; manual training, 



i;8-i8o, 182-186; trade, 189, 190, 
193. 335; technical high, 202-205; 
industrial, 207-210; evening, 230, 
■235-239; co-operative, 246-251; 
continuation, 252-268, 334 ; agri- 
cultural, 295 
Pupil-teacher system, 18 



Railway schools, 213, 214, 217 
Recording and Computing Mach- 
ines Co. 221 
Richards, C. R., 317 
Russell Sage Foundation, 199, 272 



Sale of product, 195-198 
Salaries of vocational teachers, 337; 
Salesmanship, 163-168. 222 
Schneider. Herman, 246-248 
Scholarships for children of poor, 

332, 333 
'School, age at which children 

leave, 85-88 ; reasons for leaving, 

88-96 
Scientific iManagement, 120-122 
Shipbuilding, 116- 117 
Shoe-makers, 50. 53, 62, 64. 150 
Skill, in modern industry, 111-112, 

112-122; 160-162 
Slater, Samuel, 53, 59 
Slavery, and apprenticeship, 20-22 ; 

and indentured service, 36, 37-39 
Smith, Adam, 12-13, 109 
Smith-Hughes Act, 292-306: effect 

on continuation schools 262-265 
South, indentured service in, 27- 

28, 30-31, 32-33, 33-39 
iSpeciahzation, 109-110, 112-116, 

123-125 
Steinmetz. C. P., 224 
Strayer, G. D.. 88 
Streightoff, F. PT., 91 
Strikes. 70. 71 
Supply of labor, what is a proper > 

328-329 
Surveys, of industries, 284-288; of 

schools, 272 



Tabor Manufacturing Co., 121 

Talbert, E. L., 291 

Taussig, F. W., 309 

Taylor, F. W., i2on, i2in, 211 

Teacher-training, 296-297 ; 3;^^ 



348 



INDEX 



[554 



Technical hig-h schools, 202-205 
Textile industry, 112, 114, 150-152! 
Thorndike, E. L., 86-88, 273-274 
Trade preparatory schools, 205-207 
Trades-Unions, early attitude to- 
wards apprentices, 60-62 ; at-" 
tempts to regulate apprentice- 
ship, 62-67, 69-70; effect of re- 
strictions, 70-73 ; attitude to- 
wards vocational education, 315- 

323 

Trade schools, 187, 190-192; pri- 
vate charitable, 187-189; private 
commercial, 200-202; public, 189- 
190; German, 191-192; relative 
merits of. 193-200 

Trade tests, 281-282 

Training departments, 212, 219- 
221, 222-228 

Turnover, of juvenile labor, 100- 
106 

Typographers, 61, 62, 63, 66, 70, 

7Z> 74 
Typothetae, United, 326 



Unemployment of juveniles, 105- 
108; effect of vocational training 
upon, 313 

United Shoe Machinery Co., 117- 
118 



Unskilled lalx)r, 86, 109-122, 160- 
162 



Van Cleave, J. W., 324 
V^an Kleeck, Mary, t6o, 239, 285n. 
Vestibule schools, 220-221 
Vocational guidance, aim, 269- 

270; development of, 270-273; 

methods of, 273-288; problems 

of. 288-292, 333-334 

W 

Wages, of juvenile labor, 99-100; 
and the standard of living, 90- 
94 ; effect of vocational education 
upon. 307-310; 310-313; payment 
to children while attending con- 
tinuation schools. 329-330 
Williamson Free school. 187-188. 

194 
Winona Technical Institute, 316 
Win slow, C. H., 319 
Women, in industry, 138-170 
Woodbury, R, M., 104. 106 
Woods, Erville B.. 276 
Woodward, C. M., 177, 180 
Wooley. Helen T., 281, 291, 334 



Y. M. C. A., 231-233 
Y. W. C. A., 233 



The University includes the following : 

Columbia College, founded in 1754, and Barnard College, founded in 
1889, offering to men and women, respectively, programs of study which may 
be begun eithei- in September or February and which lead normally in from three 
to four years to tbe degree of Bachelor of Aits. The program of study in Co- 
lumbia College makes it possible for a well qualified student to satisfy the require- 
ments for both the bacheioi*'s degree and a professional degree in law, medicine, 
technology or education in five to seven years according to the course. 

The Faculties of Political Science, Philosophy and Pure Science, oflTering 
advanced programs of study and investigation leading to the degrees of Master of 
Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. 

The Professional Schools of 

Law, established in 1858, offering courses of three years leading to the degree of 
Bachelor of Laws and of one year leading to the degree of Master of Laws. 

Medicine. The College of Physicians and Surgeons, established in 1807, oflTering 
two-year courses leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science and four- 
year courses leading to the degree of Doctor of Medicine. 

Mines, founded in 1663, offering courses of three years leading to the degrees 
. of Engineer of Mines and of lletallurgical Engineer. 

Chemistry and Engineering, set apart from School of Mines in 1896, offering 
three-year courses leading to degrees in Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and 
Chemical Engineering. 

Teachers College, founded in 1888, offering in its School of Education courses 
in the history and philosophy of education and the theory and practice of 
teaching, leading to appropriate diplomas and the degree of Bachelor of 
Science in Education ; and in its School of Practical Arts founded in 1912, 
eonrses in household and industrial arts, fine arts, music, and physical train- 
ing leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Practical Arts. All the 
Gourses in Teachers College are open to men and women. These faculties 
oflTer courses leading to the degree of Master of Arts and Master of Science. 

Architecture, offering a program of indeterminate length leading to the degree 
of Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Science. 

JkHirnalism, founded in 1912, oflTering a two-year course leading to the degree 
of Bachelor of Literature in Journalism. The regular requirement for ad- 
mission to this course is two years of college work. 

Business, founded in 1916, offering two and three-year courses in business train- 
ing leading to appropriate degrees. 

Dentistry, founded in 1917, oflTering four-year courses leading to appropriate 

degrees. 
Pharmacy. The New York College of Pharmacy, founded in 1831, offering 
courses of two, three and four years leading to appropriate certificates and 
degrees. 

In the Summer Session the University oflTers courses giving both general and 
professional training which may be taken either with or without regard to an 
academic degree or diploma. 

Through its system of University Extension the University oflTers many courses 
of study to persons unable otherwise to receive academic training. 

The Institute of Arts and Sciences provides lectures, concerts, readings and 
recitals — approximately two hundred and fifty in number — in a single season. 

The price of the University Catalogue is twenty-five cents postpaid. Detailed 
information regarding the work in any department will be furnished without 
charge upon application to the Secretary of Columbia Univernty, New York. 
K Y. 



Mns Hopkins University Studies 

in Historical and Political Science 



THIRTY-THIRD SERIES.— 1915.— $4.00 
(Complete in four numbers) 
I. Money and Transportation in Maryland, 1720-1765. By Clarence P, 
Gould. 75 cents; cloth, $1.00. 
II. The Financial Administration of the Colony of Virginia. By Percy 
Scott Flippin. 50 cents ; cloth. 75 cents. 

III. The Helper and American Trade Unions. By John H. Ash worth. 75 

cents ; cloth, $1.00. 

IV. The Constitutional Doctrines of Justice Harlan. By Floyd Barzilia 

Clark. $1.00 ; cloth, $1.25. 

THIRTY-FOURTH SERIES.— 1916.— $4.00 
(Complete in four numbers) 
I. The Boycott in American Trade Unions. By Leo Wolman. $1.00; cloth, 

$1.25. 
II. The Postal Power of Congress. By Lindsay Rogers. $1.00; cloth, $1.25. 

III. The Control of Strikes in American Trade Unions. By G. M. Janes. 75 

cents; cloth, $1.00. 

IV. State Administration in Maryland. By John L. Donaldson. $1.00* 

cloth, $1.25. 

THIRTY-FIFTH SERIES.— 1917. -$4.00 
(Complete in three numbers) 
I. The Virginia Committee System and the American Revolution. By J 
M. Leake. $1.00; cloth, $1.25. 
II. The Organizability of Labor. By W. O. Weyforth. $1.50. 
III. Party Organization and Machinery in Michigan since i8go. By A. C. 
MiLLSPAUGH. $1.00; cloth, $1,25. 

THIRTY-SIXTH SERIES.— 1918.— $4.00 
(Complete in four numbers) 
I. The Standard of Living in Japan. By K. Morimoto. $1.25; cloth, $1.50. 
II. Sumptuary Law in Nurnburg. By K. R. Greenfield. $1.25: cloth, $1.50. 

III. The Privileges and Immunities of State Citizenship. By R. Howell. 

$1.00; cloth, $1.25. 

IV. French Protestantism, 1559-1562. By C. G. Kelly. $1.25; cloth, $1.50. 

THIRTY-SEVENTH SERIES.— 1919.— $4.25 
(Complete in four numbers) 
I. Unemployment and American Trade Unions. By D. P. Smelser, Jr. $1.25. 
II. The Labor Law of Maryland. By M. H. Laochheimer. $1.25; cloth, $1.50. 

III. The American Colonization Society, 1817-1840. E. L. Fox. $2.00; cloth, 

$2.25. 

IV. The Obligation of Contracts Clause of the United States Constitution. 

By W. B. Hunting. $1.00; cloth, $1.25. 

THIRTY-EIGHTH SERIES.— 1920— $4.25 
(Complete in three numbers) 
I. The United States Department of Agriculture. By W. L. Wanlass. 

$1.25; cloth, $1.75. 
II. The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. By J. S. 
Robinson. $1.50; cloth, $2.00. 
III. The Employment of the Plebiscite in the Determination of Sovereignty. 
By J. SIattern. $1.50. 

THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS, : : : : Baltimore, Md. 



Columbia University Press Publications 

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERS^MENT IN THE UNITED STATES. By 

WooDROW Wilson, LL.D., President of the United States. Pp. vii -j- 236. 

OUR CHIEF MAGISTRATE AND HIS POWERS. By William Howard 
Taft, Twenty-seventh President of the United States. Pp. vii -|- 165. 

CONSTITUTIONAL POWER AND WORLD AFFAIRS. By George Suth- 
erland, former United States Senator from Utah. Pp. vii -j- 202. 

WORLD ORGANIZATION AS AFFECTED BY THE NATURE OF THE 
MODERN STATE. By David Jayne Hill, LL.D., late American Ambas- 
sador to Germany. Pp. ix -j-2i4. Reprinted with new Preface. 

THE BUSINESS OF CONGRESS. By Samuel W. McCall, Governor of 

Massachusetts. Pp. vii -[- 215. 
THE COST OF OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. By Henry Jones Ford, 
Professor of Politics in Princeton University. Pp. xv -f- H7« 

POLITICAL PROBLEMS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT. By Albert 
Shaw, LL.D., Editor of the Review of Reviews. Pp. vii-|- 268. 

THE PRINCIPLES OF POLITICS FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE 
AMERICAN CITIZEN. By Jeremiah W. Jenks, LL.D., Professor of Gov- 
ernment and Public Administration in New York University. Pp. xviii-j- 187. 

TES NATURE AND SOURCES OF THE LAW. By John Chipman Gray, 
LL.D., late Royall Professor of Law in Harvard University. Pp. xii + 332. 

THE GENIUS OF THE COMMON LAW. By the Right Honorable Sir Fred- 
erick Pollock, Bart., D.C.L., LL.D. Pp. vii+ 141. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON. His Permanent Influence on American Institutions. 
By John Sharp Williams, U^. S. Senator from Mississippi. Pp. ix -f- 330. 

THE MECHANICS OF LAW MAKING. By Courtenay Ilbert, G. C. B., 
Clerk of the House of Commons. Pp. viii -\- 209. 

LAW AND ITS ADMINISTRATION. By Harlan F. Stone, LL.D., Dean of 

the School of Law, Columbia University. Pp. vii -\- 232. 

AMERICAN CITY PROGRESS AND THE LAW. By Howard Lee Mc- 
Bain, Ph.D., Eaton Professor of Municipal Science and Administration, Co- 
lumbia University. Pp. viii -|- 269.I ^ ^^^^ 

Uniformly bound, 12mo, cloth. Each, $2.00 net. 



THE LAW AND THE PRACTICE OF MUNICIPAL HOME RULE. By How- 
ard Lee McBain, Eaton Professor of Municipal Science and Administration 
in Columbia University. 8vo, cloth, pp. xviii -f- 724. Price, ^5.00 net, 

STUDIES IN SOUTHERN HISTORY AND POLITICS. Inscribed to V^illiam 
Archibald Dunning, Lieber Professor of History and Political Philosophy in 
Columbia University, by his former pupils, the authors. A collection of fifteen 
essays, 8vo, cloth, pp. viii -)- 294. $3.00 net. 

THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING BROTHERHOOD AND THE LEAGUE OF 
NATIONS. By Sir Charles VValston (VValdstein), M. A., Litt. D., for- 
merly Professor in the University of Cambridge. i2mo, boards, pp. xxiii-224, 
j^i.6o net. 



COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LEMOKE & BUEOHNER, Agents 
30-32 East Twentieth Street, New York City 



LONGMANS, GREEN & CO. 



THE VILLAGE LABOURER, 1760-1832 : A Study in the Government of Eng- 
land before the Reform Bill. By J. L. and Barbara Hammond. 8vo. $2.25 
net. 

" There is not a chapter in Mr. and Mrs. Hammond's book which fails to throw 
new light on enclosures or on the administration of the poor laws and the game 
laws, and on the economic and social conditions of the period. ... A few other 
studies of governing class rule before 1867 as searchingly analytical as Mr. 
and Mrs. Hammond s book will do much to weaken this tradition and to make 
imperative much recasting of English History from 1688."— 

— Am. Political Science Review. 

THE TOWN LABOURER, 1 760-1 832 : The New Civilization. By J. L. Ham- 
mond and Barbara Hammond, Authors of "The Village Labourer. 1760-1832: 
A Study in the Government of England before the Reform Bill." 8vo. 
$2.25 net. 

This volume is the first part of a study of the Industrial Revolution. It 
will be completed by another volume giving in detail the history of the work- 
people in various industries, with a full account of the Luddite rising and of 
the disturbances connected with the adventures of th.Q a£:ent provocateur OWytr . 

" Never has the story been told with such masterly precision, or with 
such illuminating reference to the original sources of the time, as in this book 
.... The perspective and proportion are so perfect that the life of a whole 
era, analyzed searchingly and profoundly, passes before your eyes as you read." 

— The Dial. 

" A brilliant and important achievement. ' The Town Labourer' will rank 
as an indispensable source of revelation and of inspiration."— 7^ Nation 
(London). 

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES: A Study of the Race 
Problem in the United States from a South African Point of View. By Mau- 
rice S. Evans. 8vo. $3.00 net. 

"This is a sequel to the author's earlier volume, Black and White in 
South East Africa. It is a product of the same searching insight and the 
same candid observation." — American Journal of Sociology. 

BLACK AND WHITE IN SOUTH EAST AFRICA: A Study in Sociology. 
By Maurice S. Evans. 8vo. $3.00 net. 

" An exceedingly lucid statement of the arduous and intricate problem 
which lies before the people of South Africa in dealing with the native races." 

— The Nation. 

Second Edition, brought up to the Spring of 1919. 
THE CONTROL OF THE DRINK TRADE IN BRITAIN. A Contribution to 
National Efficiency during the Great War. igis-igiS. By Henry Carter. With 
Illustrations, Charts, and Diagrams, and a new Preface by Lord D'Abernon 
Svo. $i.7S net. 

His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury says: 

" The whole position concerning intemperance has been fundamentally 
altered by the war. I would very earnestly and seriously ask any who remain 
unconvinced, either as to the necessity or the practicability of such changes, 
to read one book — sane, cool, lucid, and absolutely well-informed — ' The Con- 
trol of the Drink Trade.' " 



Fourth Avenue and 30th Street, NEW YORK 



LONGMANS, GREEN & CO. 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES. 
With Special Reference to Factory Practice. By Edward D. 
Jones, Ph.D., Professor of Commerce and Industry, University of Mich- 
igan. With Illustrations and Bibliographies. Large i2mo. $2.35 
net. {^Fifth Impression). 

"To the head of any industrial organization, and especially to the executives of those 
which have not long been created and are still faced with many of the problems dis- 
cussed in the volume, it should be particularly useful." — Wall Street yournal. 

THE WORKS MANAGER TO-DAY: An Address Prepared for 
a Series of Private Gatherings of Works Managers. By Sidney 
Webb, Professor of Public Administration in the University of London 
(School of Economic and Political Science). Crown 8vo. $1.35 net 
An examination, in easy lecture form, of the problems of management 
of any considerable industrial enterprise, especially in relation to the or- 
ganization of labor, methods of remuneration, *' Scientific Management" 
and " Welfare Work," piecework and premium bonus systems, restriction 
of output and increase of production, the maintenance of discipline, etc. 

THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By 

Ernest Ludlow Bcgart, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics in 
the University of Illinois. With 26 Maps and 95 Illustrations. Crown 
8vo, 32 00, 

READINGS IN THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED 
STATES. By E. L. Bogart, Ph.D., and C. M. Thompson, Ph.D., 
of the University of Illinois. 8vo. ^3.20. 

A source book which collects in one volume contemporary material 
illustrating the most important economic developments in the country's 
history. The material is arranged as follows : Eight chapters deal with 
the United States before 1808; nine with the period of 1808-1860; and 
six with the period since i860. 

RAILROADS. In two volumes. By William Z. Ripley, Ph.D. 
Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Economics in Harvard University, author 
of " Railway Problems," etc. 

Vol. I. RATES AND REGULATION, with 41 maps and diagrams. 

8vo. J4.00 net. 
Vol. II. FINANCE AND ORGANIZATION, with 29 maps and 

diagrams. 8vo. ^4.00 net. 

PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS : with Special Reference to Amer- 
ican Conditions. By Edwin R. A. Seligman, LL.D. McVickar 
Professor of Political Economy in Columbia University. Eighth Edi- 
tion, Revised (1919). $3.00 net. 

AN ESSAY ON MEDI.^VAL ECONOMIC TEACHING. By 

George O'Brien, Litt.D., author of " The Economic History of Ireland 
in the Seventeenth Century," " The Economic History of Ireland in the 
Eighteenth Century, etc." ^4.75 net. 

It is the aim of this essay to examine and present in as concise a form 
as possible the principles and rules which guided and regulated men in 
their economic and social relations during the period known as the 
Middle Ages. 



Fourth Avenue and 30th Street, NEW YORK 



p. S. KING & SON, Ltd. 

WEALTH : A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF THE CAUSES OF ECO- 
NOMIC WELFARE 

By Edwin Cannan, M, A.. LL.D. , Professor of Political Economy in the Uni- 
versity of London. Second Edition, with Index. 6s. 
Times: '• A concise and instructive book." 

Glasgow Herald : " Mr. Cannan is probably the most trenchant, suggestive, and original of 
living economists. " 

MONEY : ITS CONNEXION WITH RISING AND FALLING PRICES 

By Edwin Cannan, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Political Economy in the 

University of London. Third Edition. 2s. 6d. 

The Scottish Bankers' Magazine: " The moral of Dr. Cannan's book is that if people dislike 
rise in prices, they should insist upon adequate limitation of money supply. The book 
before us is the work of one well versed in the logic of economies." 

GOLD PRICES, AND THE WITWATERSRAND 

By R. A. Lehfeldt, Professor of Economics at the South African School of 

Mines and Technology, Johannesburg. 5s. 

Chapter I, The Gold Supply ; II, The Requirements of Commerce ; III, Paper Substitutes ; 
IV, Influence of the War ; V, Position of the Witwatersrand ; Appendix : Statistical Tables. 
Appendix : The Valuation of Mines. 

THE PAPER POUND OF 1797-1821 

Reprint of the report of 1810 to the House of Commons on the High Price of 

Gold Bullion. With an Introduction by Edwin Cannan, M.A. , LL.D. 5s. 

77ie Scottish Bankers' Magazine : " Prof. Cannan's book, which has the merit of the multum 
in parvo, takes us back to the time of the Napoleonic Wars, and his historic Introduction 
to the Bullion Report of 1810— the text of which forms the greater part of the volume— is 
well deserving the attention of all students of economics." 

WAR FINANCE 

By J. Shield Nicholson, M.A., Sc.D., LL.D., Professor of Political Econ- 
omy in the University of Edinburgh. Second Edition, with three additional 
Chapters. 12s. 6d. 

Daily Telegraph: "... These essays are very well worth study, and the main contention 
that the root evil of our financial policy has been the extravagant payments made by the 
State for all the services required by the war cannot be gainsaid. ..." 

INFLATION 

By J. Shield ISTicholson, M.A. , Sc.D., LL.D., Professor of Political Econ- 
omy in the University of Edinburgh. 3s. 6d. 

Kmes .•" Professor Nicholson has now done a public service To the general reader, 

who desires to obtain as simple a view as possible of the economic considerations bearing on 
the very practical question of the mischief involved in " inflation " (whether .of the cur- 
rency, or even more fundamentally of credit), the value of this little book is that it brings 
them succinctly together." 

HISTORY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND 

By Professor A. Andreades, of the University of Athens. Translated from 
the French by Christabel Meredith. With a Preface by Professor H. S. 
FoxwELL, M.A. 12s. 6d. 

Banker's Magazine: " This fascinating book should be on the bookshelf of every student." 

Orchard House, 2-4 Great Smith Street 
Westminster, England 



Studies in History, Economics and Public Law 

edited by 

Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University 

VOLUME I, 1891-92. 2nd Ed., 1897. 396 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. 

1. The Divorce Problem. A Study in Statistics. 

By Walter F. Willcox, Ph.D. Price, 75 cents. 

•2. The History of Tariff Administration in the United States* from Colonial 
Times to the McKinley Administrative Bill. 

By John Dean Goss, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. 

8. History of Municipal Land Ownership on Manhattan Island. 

By George Ashton Black, Ph.D. Price, $1.00. 

4. Financial History of Massachusetts. 

By Charles H, J. Douglas, Ph.D. Price, |i.oo. 

VOLUME II, 1892-93. (See note on last page.) 

1. [5] The Economics of the Russian Village. 

By Isaac A. Hourwich, Ph.D. {Out of prints. 

2. [6] Bankruptcy. A Study in Comparative Legislation. 

By Samuel W. DuNSCOMB, Jr., Ph.D. (Not sold separately.) 

3. [7j Special Assessments ; A Study in Municipal Finance. * 

By Victor Rosbwater, Ph.D. Second Edition, 1898. Price, |i.oo. 

VOLUME III, 1893. 465 pp. (See note on last page.) 

1. [8] *History of Elections in American Colonies. 

By Cortland F. Bishop, Ph.D. {Not sold separately .") 
a. [9] The Commercial Policy of England toward the American Colonies. 

By George L. Beer, A. M. {Out of print.") 

'VOLUME IV, 1893-94. 438 pp. (See note on last page.) 

1. [10] Financial History of Virginia. 

By William Z. Ripley, Ph.D. {Not sold separately.) 

5. I ll]*The Inheritance Tax. By Max West, Ph.D. Second Edition, 1908. Price. $2.00- 
3. [13] History of Taxation in Vermont. By Frederick A. Wood, PhD. {Out of print). 

VOLUTyiE V, 1895-96. 498 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. 

1. [13] Double Taxation in the United States. 

By Francis Walker, Ph.D. Price, |i.oo. 

2. [14] The Separation of Governmental Powers. 

By William Bondy. LL.B., Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. 

3. [16] Municipal Government in Michigan and Ohio. 

By Delos F. Wilcox, Ph.D. Price, |i.oo. 

VOLUME VI, 1896. 601 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50 ; Paper covers, $4.00. 

{16] History of Proprietary Government In Pennsylvania. 

By William Robert Shepherd, Ph.D. 

VOLUME VII, 1896. 512 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. 

1. [17] History of the Transition from Provincial to Commonw^ealth Gov- 
ernment in Massachusetts. By Harry A. CusHiNG, Ph.D. Price, |2.oo. 
*. [ 1 8]*Spectaation on the Stock and Produce Exchan ges of the United States 

By Henry Crosby Emery, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. 

VOLUME VIII, 1896-98. 551 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [19] The Struggle betw^een President Johnson and Congress over Recon- 
struction. By Charles Ernest Chadshy, Ph.D. Price, ;^i.oo. 

a. [30] Recent Centralizing Tendencies in State Educational Administra- 
tion. By William Clarence Webster, Ph.D. Price, 75 cents. 

3. [21] The Abolition of Privateering and the Declaration of Paris. 

By Francis K. Stark, LL.B., Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo, 

4. [32] Public Administration in Massachusetts. The Relation of Central 

to Local Activity. By Robert HarVby Whitten, Ph.D. Price, 51.00. 

VOLUME IX, 1897-98. 617 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [23] *Engllsh liocal Government of To-day. A Study of the Relations of 
Central and Local Government. By Mild Roy Maltbie, Ph.D. Price, ^2.00. 

H, [24] German Wage Theories. A History of their Development. 

By James W. Crook, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. 
8. [25] The Centralization of Administration in New Yorls State. 

By John Archibald Fairlie, Ph.D. Price, $1.00. 



VOLUME X, 1898-99. 409 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. 

1. [t6] Sympatlietic Strikes and Sympatlietio Ijockouts. 

By Fred S. Hall, Ph.D. Price, |i.oo 
S. [27] *Rliode Island and tlie rormatlon of Ihe Union. 

By Frank Greene Bates, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 

3. [28]. Centralized Administration of Idquor La-vrs in tlie American Com-. 

monwealths. By Clement Moore Lacky Sites, Ph.D. Price, gi. 00. 

VOLUME XI, 1899. 495 pp. Price, cloth, 4.00; paper covers, $3.50. 

r-^9] The Growth, of Cities. By Adna Ferrin Weber Ph.D. 

VOLUME XII, 1899-1900. 586 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

9V» [30] History and Functions of Central Labor Unions. 

By William Maxwell Burke, Ph.D. Price, $i.oo. 
fgt [31.] Colonial Immigration Laws. 

By Edward Emerson Proper, A.M. Price, 75 cents. 
S, [32] History of Military Pension Legislation in tlie United States. 

By William Henry Glasson, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. 

4. [33] History of the Theory of Sovereignty since Rousseau. 

By Charles K. Mbrriam, Jr., Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 

VOLUME XIII, 1901. 570 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [34] The Legal Property Relations of Married Parties. 

By IsiDOR Loeb, Ph.D. Price. «i.so. 

2. [35] Political Nativlsm in New York State. 

By Louis Dow Scisco, Ph.D. Price, $2.00. 

3. [38] The Reconstruction of Georgia. By Edwin C. Woollet, Ph.D. Price, $i.cx3. 

VOLUME XIV, 1901-1902. 576 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

^. [37] Loyalism in New York during the American Revolution. 

By Alexander Clarence Flick, Ph.D. Price. |2.oo. 

2. [38] The Economic Theory of Risk and Insurance. 

By Allan H. Willbtt, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 

3. [39] The Eastern Question: A Study In Diplomacy. 

By Stephen P. H. Duggan. Ph.D. Price, $i.co. 

VOLUME XV, 1902. 427 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50; Paper covers, $3.00. 

[40] Crime in Its Relation to Social Progress. By Arthur Cleveland Hall, Ph.D. 

VOLUME XVI, 1902-1903. 547 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [41] The Past and Present of Commerce in Japan. 

By Y star o Kinosita, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 

2. [42] The Employment of Women in the Clothing Trade. 

By Mabel Hurd Willbt, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 

3. [43] The Centralization of Administration in Ohio. 

By Samuel P. Orth, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 

VOLUME XVII, 1903. 635 pp. Price, cloth. $4.00. 

1, [44] *Centralizing Tendencies in the Administration of Indiana. 

By William A. Rawles, Ph.D. Price, ^2.50. 

2. [45] Principles of Justice in Taxation. By Stephen F. Weston, Ph.D. Price, |2.cx5. 

VOLUME XVIII, 1903. 753 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [46] The Administration of lovra. By Harold Martin Bowman, Ph.D. Price, I1.50. 

2. [47] Turgot and the Six Edicts. By Robert P. Shepherd, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 

3. [48] Hanover and Prussia, 1795-1803. By Guy Stanton Ford, Ph.D. Price, $2.00. 

VOLUME XIX, 1903-1905. 588 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [49] Joslah Tucker, Economist. By Walter Ernest Clark Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 

2. [50] History and Criticism of the Liabor Theory of Value in English Polit- 

ical Economy. By Albert C. 'W'hitakbr, Ph.D, Price, |i. 50. 

8. [51] Trade Unions and the La-w ia New York. 

By George Gorham Groat, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. 

VOLUME XX, 1904. 514 pp. Price, cloth. $3.50. 

1. [58] The Office of the Justice of the Peace In England. 

By Charles Austin Beard, Ph.D. Price, jfi.50. 

Z, [58] A History of Military Government in Newly Acquired Territory of 

the United States. By David V. Thomas, Ph.D. Price, ^.00. 

VOLUME XXI. 1904. 746 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [54] ^Treaties, their Maklns and Enforcement. 

By Samuel B- Crandall, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 
a. [55] The Sociology of a New York CI tj Block. 

By Thomas Jessb Jones, Ph.D. Price, $1.00. 
8. [56] Pre-Malthu«lan Doctrines of Population. 

By Charlbs £. Stangbland, Ph.D. Price, la.50. 



VOLUME XXII, 1905. 520 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50; paper covers, $3.00. 

[57] The Historical Development of the Poor Law of Connecticut. 

By Edward VV. Caphn, Ph. D. 

VOLUME XXIII, 1905. 594 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [58] The Economics of Land Tenure In Georgia. 

By Enoch Marvin Banks, Ph.D. Price, |i.oo. 
3. [59] Mistake In Contract. A Study In Comparative .lurlsprudence. 

By Edwin C. McKeag, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. 

3. [60] Combination In the Mining Industry. 

By Henry R. Mussey, Ph.D. Price, $i.cx>. 

4. [61] The English Craft Guilds and the Government. 

By Stella Kramer, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo. 

VOLUME XXIV, 1905. 521 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [68] The Place of Magic In the Intellectual History of Europe. 

By Lynn Thorndike, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. 

2. [63] The Ecclesiastical Edicts of the Theodoslan Code. 

By William K. Boyd, Ph.D. Price, $i.oo. 

3. [64] *The International Position of Japan as a Great Povrer. 

By Seiji G. Hishida, Ph.D. Price, $z.oo, 

VOLUME XXV, 1906-07. 600 pp. (Sold only in Sets.) 

1. [65] *Munlclpal Control of Public UtUltles. 

By O. L. Pond, Ph.D. {Not sold separately.) 

5. [66] The Budget In the American Common v^realths. 

By Eugene E. Agger, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 
3. [67] The Finances of Cleveland, By Charles C. Williamson, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo, 

VOLUME XXVI, 1907. 559 pp. Price, cloth. $4.00. 

1. [68] Trade and Currency in Early Oregon. 

By Tames H. Gilbert, Ph.D. Price, ^x.oo. 
«. [69] LiUther's Table Talk. By Prbservbd Smith, Ph.D. Price, j$i.oo. 

3. L701 The Tobacco Industry In the United States. 

By Meyer Jagobstbin. Ph.D. Price, $x.yi. 

4. [71] Social Democracy and Population. 

By Alvan a, Tbnney, Ph.D. Price, 73 cents. 

VOLUME XXVII, 1907. 578 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [78] The Economic Policy of Robert Walpole. 

By NoRRis A. Brisco, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 

5. [73] The United States Steel Corporation. 

By Abraham Berglund, Ph.D. Price, ^i 50. 
3. [74] The Taxation of Corporations in Massachusetts. 

By Harry G. Friedman, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 

VOLUME XXVni. 1907. 564 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [75] DeWitt Clinton and the Origin of the Spoils System in New York. 

By Howard Lee McBain, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 
S. [76] The Development of the Legislature of Colonial Virginia. 

By Elmer 1. Miller, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 
3. [77] The Distribution of Ovrnershlp. 

By Joseph Harding Underwood, Ph.D. Price, |i. 50. 

VOLUME XXIX, 1908. 703 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [78] Early Nevr England Towns. By Anns Bush MacLbar, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 

S* [79J New Hampshire as a Royal Province. 

By William H. Fry, Ph.D. Price, $3.00. 

VOLUME XXX, 1908. 712 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50 ; Paper covers, $4.00. 

[80] The Province of New Jersey, 1664-1738. By Edwin P. Tanner, Ph.D. 

VOLUME XXXI, 1908. 575 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [81] Private Freight Cars and American Railroads. 

By L. D. H. Weld, Ph.D. Price, JSr.so. 

2. [83] Ohio before 1850. By Robert E. Chaddock, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. 

3. [83] Consanguineous Marriages in the American Population. 

By George B. Louis Arnbr, Ph.D. Price, 75 cents. 

4. [84] Adolphe Quetelet as Statistician. By Frank H. Hankins, Ph.D. Price, ;$i.2s. 

VOLUME XXXII, 1908. 705 pp. Price, cloth, 4.50; paper covers, $4.00. 

86] The Enforcement of the Statutes of Laborers. 

By Bertha Haven Putnam, Ph.D. 

VOLUME XXXIII, 1908-1909. 635 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [86] Factory Legislation in Maine. By E. Stagg Whitin, A.B. Price,^.oo. 

2. [87J *Psychological Interpretations of Society. 

By Michael M. Davis, Jr., Ph.D. Price, fa.otx, 
8* [88 J *Au Introduction to the Source^ relating to the Germanic Invasions. 

By Carlton J. H. Hayes, Ph.D. Price, $\.$o. 



'? 



VOLUME XXXIV, 1909. 628 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 



1, [89] Transportation and Industrial Development In the Middle "V^ est. 

By William F. (iEPHART, Ph.D. Price, $a.o9. 
t. [90] Social Reform and the Reformation. 

Q By Jacob Salwyn Schapiro, Ph.D. Price, ^1.25. 

t. [91] Responsibility for Crime. By Philip A. Parsons, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 

VOLUME XXXV. 1909. 568 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [93] The Conflict over the Judicial Powers in the United States to 1870. 

By Charles Grovb Haines, Ph.D. Price, Ji. 50. 
f . [93] A Study of the Population of Manhattan vllle. 

By Howard Brown Woolston, Ph.D. Price, |i. 25. 

8. [94] ♦Divorce: A Study In Social Causation. 

By Jambs P. Lichtenbbrgbr, Ph.D. Price, $i.s«. 

VOLUME XXXVI, 1910. 542 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [95] * Reconstruction in Texas. By Charles William Ramsdbll, Ph.D. Price, $3.s«. 
S« [9Cl * The Transition In Virginia from Colony to CommouTvealttj. 

By Charles Ramsdbll Limglby, Ph.D. Price, |i.50» 

VOLUME XXXVII, 1910. 606 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [97] Standards of Reasonableness In Local Freight Discriminations. 

By John Maurice Clark, Ph.D. Price, $1.*$, 

9. [98] Liegal Development In Colonial Massachusetts. 

By Charles J. Hilkbt, Ph.D. Price, $1.35.. 
8. [99] * Social and Mental Traits of the Negro. 

By Howard W. Odum, Ph.D. Price, $a.o; 

VOLUME XXXVin, 1910. 463 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. 

1. [lOOl The Public Domain and Democracy. 

By Robbrt Tudor Hill, Ph.D. Price, 0«.ee> 
8. [101] Organlsmlo Theories of the State. 

By Francis W. Cokbr, Ph.D. Price, |z.f«. 

VOLUME XXXIX, 1910-1911. 651 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [103] The Making of the Balkan States. 

By William Smith Murray, Ph.D. Price, |i.se. 
«. [103] Political History of Ne\« Fork State during the Period of the Civil 

War. By Sidney David Brummer, Ph. D. Price, 3.00. 

VOLUME XL, 1911. 633 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [104] A Survey of Constitutional Development In China. 

By Hawkling L. Yen, Ph D. Price, |i.oo. 
8. [105] Ohio Politics during the Civil War Period. 

By George H. Porter, Ph.D. Price, $1.75. 
8. [106] The Territorial Basis of Government under the State Constitutions. 

By Alfred Zantzingbr Reed, Ph.D. Price, $1.75, 

VOLUME XLI, 1911. 514 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50; paper covers, $3.00. 

[107] Ne-ve Jersey as a Royal Province. By Edgar Jacob Fishbb, Ph. D. 

VOLUME XLII, 1911. 400 pp. Price, cloth, $3.00; paper covers, $2.50. 

[108] Attitude of American Courts In Labor Cases. 

By George Gorham Groat, Ph.D. 

VOLUME XUII, 1911. 633 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1* [109] *Indu8trlal Causes of Congestion of Population In Nevr York City. 

By Edward Ewing Pratt, Ph.D. Price, $2.00. 
%, [110] Education and the Mores. By F. Stuart Chapin, Ph.D. Price, 75 cenu. 

8. 11 11] The British Consuls In the Confederacy. 

By Milledge L. Bonham, Jr., Ph.D. Price, $a.o«. 

VOLUMES XLIV and XLV, 1911. 745 pp. 
Price for the two volumes, cloth, $6.00 ; paper covers, $5.00. 

(118 and 118] The Economic Principles of Confucius and his School. 

By Chkn Huan-Chang, Ph.D. 

VOLUME XLVI, 1911-1912. 623 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. ^ 

1. [114] The Rlcardlan Socialists. '^ By Esther Lowenthal, PhD. Price.$i.o« 

ft. [115] Ibrahim Pasha, Gi'aud Vizier of Suleimau, the Magnificent. 

By Hbstek Donaldson Jenkins, Ph.D. Price, $i.oo. 
d. [116] •Syndicalism in France. 

By Louis Lbvinh, Ph.D. Second edition, 1914. Price, ^1.50. 
4. [117] A Hoosler Vlllaae. By Nhwhll Lbkov Sims, Ph.D). Price. 11.5a 



VOLUME XLVII, 1912. 544 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [118] The Politics of Miclilgau, 1865-1878, 

By HarriettbM. Dilla, Ph.D. Price, $2.00. 
S. [1 19] *Tlie United States Beet Sugar Industry and the Tariff. 

By Roy G. Blakby, Ph.D. Price, ^».oo, 

VOLUME XL VIII, 1912. 493 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [ISO] Isldor of Seville. By Ernest Brehaut, Ph. D. Price, $a.oo. 

9, [181] Progress and Uniformity In Chlld-I^abor L.egIslatlon. 

By William Fielding Ogburn, Ph.D. Price, $t.js. 

VOLUME XLIX, 1912. 592 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [1«S] British Radicalism 1791-1797. By Walter Phelps Hall. Price, $2.00. 

H, [183] A Compai*ative Study of the Law of Corporations. 

By Arthur K. Kuhn, Ph.D. Price, |i.so. 
8. [1S4] *The Negro at Work in New Tork City. 

By Gborgb E. Haynhs, Ph.D. Pric«,$i.23. 

VOLUME L, 1911. 481 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [125] *The Spirit of Chinese Philanthropy. By Yai Yue Tsu. Ph.D. Price, $i.oo. 
^. [186] *The Alien in China. By Vi. Kyuin Wellington Koo, Ph.D. Price, $2.50. 

VOLUME LI, 1912. 4to. Atlas. Price: cloth, $1.50; paper covers, $1.00. 

1. [187] The Sale of Liquor in the South. 

By Lbonard S. Blakby, Ph.D. 

VOLUME LII, 1912. 489 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [188] *Provincial and Local Taxation in Canada. 

By Solomon Vinbbbrc, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 
%, [189] *The Distribution of Income. 

By Frank Hatch Streightoff, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 
B. [130] *The Finances of Vermont, By Frederick A. Wood, Ph.D. Price, $1.00. 

VOLUME LIII, 1913. 789 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50; paper, $4.00. 

[131] The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida. By W. W. Davis, Ph.D. 

VOLUME LIV, 1913. 604 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [138] * Privileges and Immunities of Citizens of the United States. 

By Arnold Johnson Liem, Ph.D. Price, 75 cents. 
"S* [133] The Supreme Court and Unconstitutional Legislation. 

By Blaine Free Moore, Ph.D. Price, $1.00. 

S. [134] *Indian Slavery in Colonial Times within the Present Limits of the 

United States. By Almon Wheeler Laubkr, Ph.D. Price, $3.00. 

VOLUME LV, 1913. 665 pp. Price, cloth, $4,50. 

1. [135] *A Political History of the State of New Tork. 

By Homer A. Stebbins, Ph.D. Price, $4.00. 
S. [ 136] *The Early Persecutions of the Christians. 

By Leon H. Canfield, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 

VOLUME LVI, 1913. 406 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. 

1. [137] Speculation on the New York Stock Exchange, 1904-1907. 

By Algernon Ashburner Osborne. Price, $1.50. 
fi, [138] The Policy of the United States towards Industrial Monopoly. 

By Oswald Whitman Knauth, Ph.D. Price» i^a.oo. 

VOLUME LVII, 1914. 670 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [139] *The Civil Service of Great liritaln. 

By Robert Moses, Ph.D. Price, |2.oo. 
8. [140] The Financial History of New York State. 

By Don C. Sowers. Price, $2.50 

VOLUME LVIII, 1914. 684 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50; paper, $4.00. 

[141] Reconstruction in North Carolina. 

By J. G. DB RouLHAC Hamilton, Ph.D. 

VOLUME LIX, 1914. 625 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

I, [148] The Development of Modern Turkey by means of Its Press. 

By Ahmed Emin, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo, 
8. [143] The System of Taxation in China, 1614-1911. 

By Shao-Kwan Chen, Ph. D. Price^ ^i.oo. 

8. [144] The Currency Problem in China. By Wen Pin Wei, Ph.D. Price, I1.25, 

4. [146] *Jew^ish Immlsratiou to the United States. 

By Samuel Joseph, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 



VOLUME LX. 1914. 516 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [14:6] *Con9tantine the Great and Christianity. 

By Chkistopher Bush Coleman, Ph.D. Price, ^z.oo. 
3. [147] Tlie EstablistLnient of Christianity and the Proscription of Pa- 
ganism. By Maud Aline HuTTMAN, Ph.D. Price, «2.oo. 

VOLUME LXI. 1914. 496 pp. Price, cloth, $4 00. 

1. [148] *The Rail^v^ay Conductors: A Study in Organized Labor. 

By Edwin Clyde Robbins. Price, igi.so. 
3. [149] *The Finances of the City of New Yorli. 

By Yin-Ch'u Ma. Ph.D. Price, $2.50. 

VOLUME LXII. 1914. 414 pp. Price, cloth, $3.60. 

[150] Tlie Journal of the Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction. 
39th Congress, 1865—1867. By Benjamin B. Kendrick, Ph.D. Price, $3.00. 

VOLUME LXIIL 1914. 661pp. Price, cloth, $400. 

1. [151] Emile Durkhelm's Contributions to Sociological Theory. 

By Charles Elmer Gehlke, Ph.]D. Price, J1.50. 
8. [153] The Nationalization of Railways. in Japan. 

By TosHiHARU Watarai, Ph.D. Price, gi.25. 
3. [153] Population: A Study in Malthusianism. 

By Warren S. Thompson, Ph.D. Price, $1.75. 

VOLUME LXIV. 1915. 646 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [154] *Reconstx*uctlon in Georgia. By C. Mildred Thompson, Ph.D. Price, 3.00. 

3. [155] *The Review^ of American Colonial Legislation by the King In 

Council. By Elmer Beecher Russell, Ph.D. Price, I1.75. 

VOLUME LXV. 1916. 524 pp. Price, cloth, $400. 

1. [156] *The Sovereign Council of New^ France 

By Raymond Du Bois Cahall, Ph.D. Price, I2.25. 
3. [157] *Scientlfic Management (3nd. ed. 1918). 

By Horace B. Drury, Ph.D. Price, $2.00 

VOLUME LXVI. 1916. 655 pp. Price, cloth, $4.60. 

1. [158] *The Recognition Policy of the United States. 

By Julius Goebel, Jr., Ph.D. Price, ^2.00. 

3. [159] Railway Problems in China. By Chih Hsu, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 

3. [160] ♦The Boxer Rebellion. By Paul H. Clements, Ph.D. Price, j2. 00. 

VOLUME LXVII. 1916. 638 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [161] *Russian Sociology. By Julius F. Hecker, Ph.D. Price, |2. 50. 

3. [163] State Regulation of Railroads in the South. 

By Maxwell Ferguson, A. M., LL.B. Price, ^1.75. 

VOLUME LXVIIL 1916. 618 pp. Price, cloth, $4,60. 

[163] The Origins of the Islamic State. By Philip K. Hitti, Ph.D. Price, $4.00. 

VOLUME LXIX. 1916. 489 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [164] Railway Monopoly and Rate Regvilation. 

By Robert J. McFall, Ph.D. Price, $2 00. 
3. [165] The Butter Industry in the United States. 

By Edward Wiest, Ph D. Price, 52.00. 

VOLUME LXX. 1916. 540 pp. Price, cloth, $4.60. 

[166] Mohammedan Theories of Finance 

By Nicolas P. Aghnides, Ph.D. Price, $4.00. 

VOLUME LXXL 1916. 476 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. ' 

1. [167] The Commerce of L.oui8iana during the French Regime, 1699—1768. 

By N. M. Miller Surrey, Ph.D. Price, $3.50. 

VOLUME LXXII. 1916. 542 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. '1681 American Men of Letters: Their Nature and Nurture. 

By Edwin Leavitt Clarke, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 
3. [1691 The Tariff Problem In China. By Chin Chu, Ph.D. Price, |i.so. 

3. (1 701 The Marketing of Perishable Food Products. 

By A. £. Adams, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 



VOLUME LXXIII. 1917. 616 pp. Price, cloth, $450. 

1, [171] *Tlie Social and Economic Aspects of the Chartist Movement. 

By Frank F. Rosenblatt, Ph.D. Price, $2.00 
8. [173] *Tlie Decline of the Chartist Movement. 

By Preston William Slosson, Ph.D. Price, J2. 00. 
3. [173] Chartism and the Chnrches. By H. V. Faulkner, Ph.D. Price. $1.35 

VOLUME LXXIV. 1917. 646 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [174] The Rise of Ecclesiastical Control In Qnebec. 

By "Walter A. Riddbll, Ph.D. Price, $1.75 
3. [175] Political Opinion in Massachusetts during the Civil "War and Re- 
construction. By Edith Ellen Ware, Ph.D. Price, $r. 75. 
3. [176] Collective Bargaining in the Lithographic Industry. 

By H. E. HoAGLAND, Ph.D. Price, $1.00 

VOLUME LXXV. 1917. 410 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

An extra-illustrated and bound volume is published at $5.00. 
1. [177] Ne-w York as an Eighteenth Century Municipality. Prior to 1731. 

By Arthur Everett Peterson, Ph.D. Price, $2.00 
3. [178] Nevr York as an Eighteenth Century Municipality. 1731-1776. 

Py George William Edwards, Ph.D. Price, ^2.00. 

VOLUME LXXVI. 1917. 489 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [179] *Economlc and Social History of Cho"wan County, North Carolina. 

By W. Scott Boyce, Ph.D. Price, $2.50. 

2. [180] Separation of State and Local Revenues in the United States. 

By Mabel Newcomer, Ph.D. Price, $1.75 

VOLUME LXXVII. 1917. 473 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00 

[ 18 IJ American Civil Church Law^. By Carl Zollmann, LL.B. Price, $3.50 

VOLUME LXXVIII. 1917. 647 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

[188] The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution. 

By Arthur Meier Schlbsinger, Ph.D. Price, jf4.oo. 

VOLUME LXXIX. 1917-1918. 535 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [183] Contemporary Theories of Unemployment and Unemployment 
Relief. By Frederick C. Mills, Ph.D. Price, $1.50 

8. [184] The French Assembly of 1848 and American Constitutional Doc- 
trine. By Eugene Newton Curtis, Ph.D. Price, *3.c». 

VOLUME LXXX. 1918. 448pp. Price, cloth, $400. 

1. [1851 *Valuation and Rate Making. By Robert L. Hale, Ph.D. Price, |i 50. 

8. [186] The Enclosure of Open Fields in England. 

By Harriet Bradlet, Ph.D. Price, fT.25. 

3. [187] The Land Tax In China. By H. L. Huang, Ph.D. Price, fi 50 

VOLUME LXXXI. 1918. 601 px). Price, cloth $4.50. 

1. [188] Social lilfe in Rome In the Time of Plautus and Terence. 

By Georgia W. Lkffingwbll, Ph.D. Price, $1.25. 
8. [189] *Australlan SocialDevelopment. 

By Clarence H. Northcott, Ph.D. Price, J2.50 
3. [190] *Factory Statistics and Industrial Fatigue. 

By Philip S. Florence, Ph.D. Price, #1.25 

VOLUME LXXXIL 1918-1919. 676 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. [191] Nevr England and the Bavarian Illumlnatl. 

By Vernon St auffbr, Ph.D. Price, I3 00. 
8. f 198] Resale Price Maintenance. By Claudius T. Murchison, Ph D. Price, $j 5c. 

VOLUME LXXXIIL 1919. 432 pp. Price, cloth, $4 00. 

[193] The I. W. W. By Paul F. Brissbnuen. Ph.D. Price. $3.50 

VOLUME LXXXIV. 1919. 534 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 

1. (1941 The Royal Government in Virginia, 1684-1775. 

By Percy Scott Flippin, Ph.D. Price, I3 00. 
8. [195] Hellenic Conceptions of Peace. ByWALLAcsE.CALDWHLL, Ph.D. Pr)ce, $1 25. 

VOLUME LXXXV. 1919. 450 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1, [196J The Religious Policy of the Bavarian Governnaent during the 

Napoleonic Period. By Chester P. Higby, Ph.D. Price, J3 00. 

8. [197] Public Debts of China. By F. H. Huang, Ph.D. Price. >i 00. 

VOLUME LXXXVI. 1919. 460 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

[198] The Decline of Aristocracy in the Politics of ISew York. 

By Dixon Kvan Fox, Ph.D. Price, 1 3 50 . 

VOLUME LXXXVIL 1919. 451pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

[199] Foreign Trade of China. By Chong Su Skh, Ph.D. Price. $3 50 



VOLUME LXXXVIII. 1919. 444 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 

1. [«00] The Street Surface Railway Franclilses of New York City. 

By Harry J. Carvas, Ph.D. Piice, $a.oo. 
«. [801] Electric Light Franclilses in New York City. 

By Leonora Arbnt, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 

VOLTJIEE LXXXIX. 1919. 658 pp. Price, cloth, $5.00. 

I. [2021 "Women's Wages. By Emilie J. Hutchinson, Ph.D. Price, |i, 50. 

%. [903 The Return of the Democratic Party to Power In 1884. 

Bv Harrison Cook Thomas, Ph.D. Price, |«.as, 
3. [2041 The Paris Bourse and French Finance. 

By William Parkbr. Ph.D. Price, |i.oo. 

VOLUME XC. 1920. 547 pp. Price, cloth, $5.25. 

1. [2051 Prison Methods in New York state. By Philip Klein, Ph.D. Price, I3. 50. 

2. ,206 India's Demand for Transportation. 

By William E. Wbld, Ph.D. Price, li.as. 

VOLUME XCI. 1920. 626 pp. Price, cloth, $6.25. 

1. [207 *The Influence of Oversea Expansion on England to 1700. 

By James E. Gillespie, Ph.D. Price, I3 .00. 

2. [208] International Labor Legislation. By I. F. Ayusawa, Ph.D. Price, $3.75 

VOLUME XCII. 1920. 433 pp. Price, cloth, $5.00. 

[ -^09] The Public Life of William Shirley. By George A. Wood, Ph.D. Price, I4.50. 

VOLUME XCin. 1920. 460 pp. Price, cloth, $5.50. 

1. [2 10 *The English Reform Bin of 1867. By Joseph H. Park, Ph.D. ^rice. $3.00. 

2. ['il Ij The Policy of the United States as Regards Intervention. 

By Charles E. Martin, Ph.D. Price, $2.00. 

VOLUME XCIV. 1920-1921. 492 pp. Price, cloth, $5.75. 

1. [212] *Catastrophe and Social Change. By S. H. Prince, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 

2. 213] Intermarriage la Ne-w York City. By Julius Drachsler, Ph.D. Price, la.as. 

3. [2 14] The Ratification of the Federal Constitution by the State of New 

York. By C. E. Miner, Ph.D. Price, |i.so. 

VOLUME XCV. 1920-1921. 554 pp. Price, cloth, $6.25. 

5] *Ranroad Capitalization. By James C. Bonbright, Ph.D. Price, ^.00. 

16] American Apprenticeship and Industrial Education. 

By Paul H. Douglas, Ph.D. Price, 13.50. 

VOLUME XCVL 1921. 

1. [217J OpeninaraHlghway to the Pacific. 1838-1846. 

By Jambs Christy Bell, Jr. {Inprext). 

2. [218] Parliamentary Franchise Reform in England from 1885 to 1918. 

By Homer L. Morris. {In press\. 

3. f219] The Peaceable Americans. 1860-61. By Mary Scrugham. {Inpreu). 

VOLUME XCVn. 1921. 

1. [2201 The "Working Forces In Japanese Politics. 

By UicHi IwASAKi, Ph.D. Price, Jx-so. 

2. [221[ Social Aspects of the Treatment of the Insane. 

By J. A. Goldberg. {In^rets). 

3. [2221 The Free Xegro In Maryland. By Jambs M. Wright. {In press). 

VOLUME XCVIIL 1921. 

1. ]223] Origins of Modern German Colonialism, 1871-1885. 

By Mary E. Townsbnd. {Ingress). 

2. f234] Contemporary British Opinion daring: the Franco- Prussian "War. 

By Dora Nbill Raymond. (In press). 

VOLUME XCIX. 1921. 

1. [325] The Economic History of China : A Study of 80II Exhaustion. 

By Mabel Peng-hua Lkb. {In press). 



1. [21 

2. [21 



Tke price for each separate monograph is for paper-covered copies; separate monographs marked*, can 
Oe supplied bound in cloth, for 75c. additional. All prices are net. 

The set of ninety-three volumes, covering monographs 1-216, Is offered, bound, for $350; except that 

Volumes n , m , rv , and vn can be supplied only in part , Volume II . Wo . l , Volume in , No . 2 , Volume 

rv, No. 3, and Volume vn, No. 2, being out of print. Volumes II, III,and IV, as described in the 

last sentence, and Volume XXV can now be supplied only in connection with complete sets, but the 

separate monographs of each of these volumes are available unless marked "not sold separately ' ' 

For further information, apply to 

Mesiirs. LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., 443 Fourth Avenue, New York. 
London: P. S. KING & SON, Ltd., Orchard House, Westminster. 



